Roswell Fanatics

Winner - Round 7



Title: All's Fair In Love And War

Author: Sarah Marie

Couple: Dreamer. No, seriously! Things aren’t always as they appear to be! You gotta have faith, people!

Genre: AU, No Aliens. Written in Liz POV.

Rating: I’m gonna be safe here.. Mature-Adult. With me... you just never know.

Disclaimer: I own nothing! All rights belong to Katims, Metz, and the head people at the networks. The only thing I can claim is the idea. Also…any name or content similarities are purely coincidental. I mean no harm here...Just tryin to have a little fun!

Summary: Max Evans and Liz Parker were high school sweethearts. They got married right after high school and moved to New York. After two years of marriage, things changed and they separated. Now, something’s come up causing them to come face-to-face with the past they’d left behind.

Authors Note: Special Thanks to Tanya and Melyssa for reading this and listening to me obsess about it for, like, ever!!! I love you both so much!!! *MUAH*




Chapter One

I think I need to have my ceiling repainted. I mean, this isn’t the best apartment in the world...just a little one bedroom right off the NYU campus, where I’m currently going to school, but it’s enough. I do live by myself after all, so I don’t need a mansion.

I glance over at the clock, seeing annoying red glowing numbers telling me that its 2:28 AM. I should be exhausted. I had an assload of homework and reports to do for almost every class this week, not to mention that I still had to work every night...but I can’t fall asleep. All I can do is stare at the aforementioned ceiling.

I take a deep breath, willing my mind to just shut down so I can go to bed, when I start hearing snoring from the left side of my bed. Groaning, I roll over and shake the offender. “Steven” I say in a loud stage whisper, then roll my eyes at myself. We’re the only two in the apartment, and I’m trying to wake him up...why am I whispering? “Steven” I say, louder this time, and start shaking him a little harder.

He slowly opens his eyes, looking over at me. “What, Beth? I was fuckin sleepin.”

“Are you serious?!” I fain ignorance. “I had no clue!” Then I give him a slap on the chest and sit up, the sheets falling to my waist, exposing my naked breasts. “I was trying to wake you up. You were snoring, you keep stealing the blankets, and you’re kicking. I think you should go back to the frat house and sleep there.”

Judging by the fact that Steven’s eyes have been glued to my boobs every since I sat up, I’m confident that he hasn’t heard a single word out of my mouth. I cross my arms over my chest, effectively cutting off the peep show. He looks up. “Sorry babe, did you say something?”

“Typical.” I mumble. Then repeat myself, nice and loud so he understands me. “I said go back to the frat house!”

“But baby...” he whines out like a two year old who just got his toy taken away from him. “I don’t like it there...it’s loud, and there’s a kegger goin on.”

“Steven...it’s a frat house! There’s always a kegger! If you don’t like it, get your own apartment. I can’t sleep with someone else in the bed. You know that! That’s why you never stay the night.”

Although it’s dark in the room, with the moonlight shining through the slits in the blinds I can see him giving me the ‘kicked puppy’ look. And at the moment, I can do nothing but stare into his amazing baby blues. He’s my total opposite. Tall and muscular, while I’m petite and have never even seen the inside of a fitness center. He has short blonde hair and bright baby blue eyes, as opposed to my long brown hair and plain brown eyes. I’m about to give in, to just let him stay the night and deal without sleep, when my cell phone starts ringing. I reach over on the nightstand and grab my phone. I check the caller ID, but it says the number has been blocked. “Hello?”

“Liz?” The voice on the other end asks. I’m taken aback for a second. I’ve gone by Beth since the beginning of the new school year. After the events of last summer, I needed a change, so whoever this is...I haven’t talked to them in awhile.

“Um...who is this?” I ask, glancing over at Steven, whose lounging in bed, his eyes once again glued to my breasts.

“It’s Maria.” I think my heart honestly stopped beating for a second. I haven’t talked to Maria DeLuca in forever. We used to be inseparable, the best of best friends…until Max. But we’ll get back to that later, cause if she’s calling me...there has to be a good reason.

“Oh my God, Maria…it’s been forever! How are you?” I ask, hoping that my heart returns to a normal rate once we’re done with the pleasantries.

“I’m fine, but we have a serious situation here, Liz. I know it’s late, but you know I wouldn’t call unless it was important.” Well, hell. There goes the small talk. Typical Maria...just dive right into the conversation. I don’t think that girl could conduct a conversation that consisted of her beating around the bush if she was being paid.

“Ok...” I say, the confusion evident in my voice. “What’s goin on?”

I hear her take a deep breath. Oh shit...this is bad! It’s totally unlike Maria to not spit out whatever she knew right away. “Max is engaged, babe.”

I know she didn’t just say what I think she said. There’s no way in hell. It’s simply not possible! Am I breathing? Nope, I’m not. Damn, gotta remember to do that! “Wh- How...I...” I take a deep breath…there, I’m breathing again. Yay me. “What are you talking about?”

“Well...Max invited me and Michael over to his house for a party tonight.” I literally cringe at the mention of Michael Guerin. I’m sure that if I’d moved back home, Michael Guerin would have killed me by now. He thinks that everything that happened between Max and me is all my fault. Michael immediately took Max’s side when we split. When Maria tried to reason with him, that it could be Max’s fault...he dumped her. So, Maria either had to give up the love of her life...her fiancé, or stop talking to me. I pretty much made the decision for her. I wouldn’t answer when she called and wouldn’t call her back. I know her and Michael are meant for each other, and I wasn’t gonna stand in the way of my best friend’s happiness. Oh shit, she’s still talking! “So...we go over to his house right? We figure, just a typical Max party...little drinking, little fighting, a good time, right?” I roll my eyes. Only Maria would think that would be a good time. “And in the middle of the festivities, he just announces that him and his...arm candy are engaged!”

“His arm candy?” I have to ask. I knew nothing about this bitch until just now...so I need the basics.

“Yeah. His girlfriend…Well, fiancée now! Tess...blonde, blue eyes, big boobs, dumber than a post. Ya know…the anti-you.” Ouch! That one’s gonna leave a mark, people. I think she caught onto her mistake. “Oh, Lizzie! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that!”

“No, Maria, it’s ok. I know what you meant.” I reassure her. Yeah, I know what she meant, but that still hurt. “But I don’t get it, what does any of that have to do with me?”

“You can’t be serious, Liz! Think about it!!!” She practically screams in my ear, but I do what she says...I think about it. It hits me about two seconds later.

“Oh shit!” Is all I can get out of my mouth at this particular moment, so that’s gonna have to do.

“Exactly!” She screeches into the phone. Good Lord, I think she just busted my eardrum. I jerk the phone away from my ear, trying to rub the pain away, before I cautiously bring the phone back to where it was. “What are you gonna do, girlfriend?” She asks.

I can practically feel her pity for me oozing through the phone, but I ignore it. I know exactly what I’m gonna do, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. A string of curses come out of my mouth that would have made a sailor blush before replying. “I’m coming home. I gotta pack, and call into work, and call the airline.” I sigh. Great, just what I wanted to do. Fly all the way across the damn country to deal with a mistake I made when I was in high school. “Are you with Michael?”

“No. Michael, Max, Kyle, Alex and all the guys took off for Albuquerque about a half hour ago to go bar hopping to celebrate. He won’t be back for a good day or so, why?”

“I’ll call you back when I know when I’ll be in. Can you pick me up at the airport?” I pull the sheets back, and get out of bed before grabbing my pajamas and throwing them back on. I could pack naked, but I’d just rather not.

“Yeah, of course.” She’s silent for a minute. “I’m so sorry, Liz.”

Wow, do I NOT want her sympathy right now. “Don’t worry about it, ‘Ria. I’d rather hear it from you than anyone else. I’ll call you later.”

I hang up with Maria and grab my suitcase from under the bed. Only then do I look up and notice that Steven is silently begging for an explanation. “I’m sorry, Steven. I have to go home for a few days. There’s been a family emergency.”

He scoots to the edge of the bed. “Everything ok?” How cute, he’s concerned. Oh well, can’t make myself worry about that right now.

“Yeah, I just need to go home for a few days and take care of some stuff.” I don’t even look up, but just keep making trips from the closet to the suitcase, throwing in my cutest clothes.

“Ok, do you want me to drive you to the airport?” I stop packing and look over at him. Damn it, now I feel bad! Steven’s a great guy, but I can’t be in a serious relationship. He knows that. We’re just...friends with benefits. He knows that too...so does half of the NYU campus. Once the frat boys got a hold of that news, it was all over. Not that I care, but apparently everyone else does.

“No, that’s ok, I can drive myself.” He looks hurt, until I grab his hand, making him look up at me. “Thank you.” I say, genuinely thankful that I have him in my life.

He looks slightly surprised. “For what?”

I sit down on his lap, giving him a soft kiss on the forehead. “For being you. For being so caring, and understanding…and for not pushing me into something that can’t be.”

He nods, giving me a quick kiss before I get up and then walk him to the front door after he’s gotten dressed. A half an hour and three phone calls later, I’m on my way to LaGuardia airport.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Airports are really, really boring at night. I could have stayed at my apartment. Then driven here later, since my flight isn’t until 6 AM, but I couldn’t just sit in the apartment and stare at the ceiling. I’ll have to make a note to call about getting it repainted. It really does need it.

I can’t believe this shit. I don’t wanna go home. I haven’t been home in almost 3 years. I bet by now you’re just on the edge of your seat, wondering what the hell is going on, right? Ok, ok. I won’t hold out any more...let me break it down for you.

I met Max Evans my freshman year of high school. He was the big man on campus from the minute he moved to town, and absolutely every girl in school was tripping over themselves to get him to notice them. Except for yours truly. Somehow, I managed to snag him, and we were together the rest of high school.

Almost right after graduation we did what we thought was the best thing to do at the time...we got married. Seems totally romantic, right? Marrying your high school sweetheart. It was, for a minute. We’d already decided to go to NYU, so we got a little apartment off campus...yup, the same one I’m still currently living in.

Max was...in a word, perfect. He was the ideal of the perfect man, the kind you dream about finding when you’re a little girl. He was my everything. I’d never been with anyone else, and I mean that in the literal sense. Max was my first everything. My first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first love, my first lover, and now...he’s my first husband.

I can’t stop myself from looking down at the double diamond bands that circle around my middle finger. Yes, I still wear my engagement ring and wedding band, just not on the right finger. I know what you’re thinking too. If Max was so perfect...why the hell aren’t we together right now, and why the hell is he engaged to another woman?

The explanation to that is both really simple, and completely complicated at the same time. Both of our parents warned us about getting married so young. They told us that we needed time apart, time to grow up, and time to live a little without each other, to figure out who we were. But...we were young and stupid, and were certain that we had the answers to everything. So we went ahead with the marriage. Two years later, it turns out that we should have listened to our parents. We didn’t have that time to grow up and find ourselves. To know what it was to just be...us without the other being there. I caught Max out with another girl one night. I shut down, stopped talking to him, basically turned into a psycho bitch from hell and we eventually grew to resent each other. I never told him that I saw him that night... never explained to him why I shut down, I just let it eat me up inside. After living in hell for three months, at the end of his sophomore year, Max dropped out of NYU and moved back to Roswell. We haven’t spoken to each other since, and now he’s engaged.

It’s not that I don’t want Max to move on…hell, I’m thrilled that he found someone else. I did! I have Steven, and while we aren’t serious, I know that it could be. I don’t want to be tied down again though. And I don’t want to tie Steven down. He knows about Max. He knows that we were serious in high school, and college, but no one there knows that we were married. Somehow, we managed to keep that a secret. Probably because I was enrolled in school under my maiden name, and since me and Max had each other, we didn’t talk to anyone else.

Steven knows how hard the ‘break-up’ was on me, so he understands why I need to be free to do whatever I want and not have to answer to anyone. I’m finally getting my time to grow. To find out who I am, and I’m loving every single second of it.

But it would only figure that fuckin Max Evans would come out of nowhere and ruin all that for me. We would’ve had to deal with each other sooner or later...I’m still partial to the ‘later’ part, because even though I haven’t talked to Max since he left New York almost a year ago, we have some serious unfinished business. What kind of unfinished business you ask? Well, to put this as simply as possible...technically, we’re still married. We never got a divorce. We just separated. I’m still Elizabeth Louisa Evans (middle name courtesy of my mom’s mom, thank you very much)!

I hear the beat of “Hey Mama” by the Black Eyed Peas suddenly begin, signaling me that my cell phone is ringing. I reach into my purse and grab it, seeing that it’s my parents. Damn it, Maria must have called them. I don’t want to answer it, but I know I’m gonna have to face them sooner or later, so here goes nothing. “Hey Parental Unit.” I say into the phone, knowing whichever one it is will definitely comment on that.

“Lizzie, can’t you find another way to answer our phone calls?” My dad asks, and then proceeds to explain to my mother what happened after I hear her in the background talking.

“Daddy, focus please.” I say, bringing him back to the conversation with me. “What’s up?”

“Maria called us at 1 AM to tell us that you were coming home. Is that true?” He asks, his voice both hopeful and there’s something else there that I can’t quite put my finger on. Resistant maybe? He probably knows about Max and what’s-her-slut, so he probably knows that’s why I’m getting on an airplane shortly to fly all the way across the country when I couldn’t manage to make that happen for any holidays.

“Yes, Daddy.” I reply, waiting for the lecture to begin.

“Lizzie...” He starts. Oh, here he goes! Major lecture!!! “Please tell me that it’s to get Max Evans the hell out of your life for good and then get right back on a plane back to NYU.”

I’m literally sitting in the middle of the airport with my mouth hanging wide open. People are staring at me. Oh, I should probably close my mouth then! DUH! Oh yeah, on with the conversation! “I hope so.”

I hear a sigh of relief on the other end of the phone. “And Maria’s picking you up at the airport?”

“Yes, Daddy.” This conversation is going the complete opposite direction I thought it would! Not that I’m complaining.

“Ok, you come here as soon as you get into Roswell, you hear me? Then once you’re settled in we can deal with that bastard husband of yours.”

Whoa there! I can’t not laugh at my dad. Not really polite, but sometimes he’s funny without even trying to be. “Sounds like a plan, Daddy. I’ll see you and Mom later today. I love you both.”

After we say goodbye, I hang up the phone and then proceed to stare at it. That didn’t really just happen, did it? That was insanity. Not one single snarky comment about missing holidays...that’s a record. Thank God you were here to witness it!

I place my phone back in my purse, once again returning to twirling my rings around my middle finger. Since there’s absolutely no way in hell I can just sit here without going insane, I grab my purse, that being my only carry-on item, and head to the souvenir shop. I’m gonna need some serious trashy tabloids…Cosmo, Vogue, a beverage...ooh…and a snickers!

Once I’m comfortably situated back in my chair in my terminal with my magazines, snacks and sodas, I pick out one of the tabloids. Let’s see who Paris Hilton is dating this week!!

These tabloids never cease to amaze me with the crazy shit they put in them, it’s amazing the people pay for this crap! Wait a tic...forget I said that! I check the time on my cell phone, it’s a little after 5 AM. My flight should leave in an hour, and I’m bored out of my skull. I can’t read anymore. Due to my lack of sleep, my eyes keep going fuzzy every time I try. I can’t take a nap, cause there’s no way in hell I’d wake up to get on my flight. I’ll sleep on the plane, that’s not a big deal, the only thing is...I have absolutely nothing to do.

Just as I’m about to reach in my bag to call Steven, knowing he’ll still be awake because of the party, it starts ringing. Weird...maybe I have ESP or some cool shit like that. I pick it up and look at the caller ID, it’s a blocked number. Man, caller ID really isn’t that helpful, is it?? Oh well, I answer it anyway, “Hello?”

I can hear music, loud music playing in the background on the other end of the line, yet no one says anything. I repeat my ‘hello’ thinking whoever it was might not have heard me over that racket. The reply I receive is “Hey, Angel.”

My heart stopped. Breathing, oh I’m definitely not doing that right now. I can’t even blink. There is absolutely NO way in hell this is who I think it is. “Huh?” Is about all I can manage, and it comes out in nothing more than a squeak.

“How’s my Angel doin?” Comes from the person on the other end. It’s a little hard to decipher at first, being as how they’re obviously drunk as a monkey because they’re slurring horribly, but there’s absolutely no mistaking that Maxwell fucking Evans is on the other end of this call.

“How did you get my number?” I ask, unable to keep the disdain out of my voice. I had my cell number changed immediately after Max left, wanting absolutely nothing to do with him. The only people from Roswell that have my new number are Maria, Alex and my parents. Which can only mean one thing...Alex gave him my number. I think I just growled. Yup, by the way the guy in the fancy suit a few seats down is looking at me, I definitely growled. Excellent.

“What? You ain’t happy to hear from me?” Max asks, giggling like a little girl. Ugh, I loathe him.

“Of course I’m not happy to hear from you. Why the hell would I want to talk to you?” I spit into the phone, hoping he either gets the hint, or just gets pissed off and hangs up on me. Either one would be just fine by me.

“Baby, such hostility.” Max purrs into the phone, making me growl again. Great, that guy got up and moved. Max screws me no matter what. “I just called to see how you were doin, ya know? Touch base and all that bullshit. How’s your fuck-buddy?”

I see red…lots and lots of red. “His name is Steven, and he’s not my fuck-buddy.” I was about to tag a title onto Steven, but I’m not really sure what he is. Well, I know he’s a friend with benefits, but that’s just a fancy phrase for fuck-buddy. Damn Max all to hell.

“Oh, he isn’t?” Max asks, sounding genuinely interested. “What is he exactly?”

I’m so kicking this kid in the face when I see him. And since I have no reply to that, I simply turn the conversation another direction. “Why are you calling me? Do you want something? Or are you just calling to make sure that I know you’re still the prick you always were?”

Max imitates a cat, meowing then hissing into the phone “Retract those claws, kitty. Just called to see how my girl was doin.” I’m speechless! This guy has a lot of balls! He’s fucking engaged, and he’s still married. There’s no way he could know that I’m gonna be home later this morning, or that I know he’s engaged...so he really did call just to be a prick.

“Yeah, well, as touching as that is...I have no desire to talk to you ever again. So I’m just gonna hang up now, ok?”

“Can’t let you do that, sweet cheeks.” If I kill him, I can claim insanity, right??

“Really? And why is that?” I ask, not really caring what the answer is.

“Cause I miss you, Lizzie Lou.” Huh? He really sounds like he means it. If I didn’t know him better, that would have been really believable. Unfortunately for him, I’m hip to his games. So, I decide that he’s given me the perfect opportunity to completely fuck with his head.

I sigh, making it sound like I’m actually falling for that lame line of his before replying. “I miss you too, Maxie Poo.” Yeah, we were quite nauseating when we were together. We even made me wanna puke on occasion due to the over-whelming cuteness of it all.

“Really?” He asks almost immediately. Oh yes, you fell right into it Max. I’m laughing inside my head at how funny this is going to be. You ready for it? Ok, here I go...

“Yeah, I miss you for about a minute...and then I realize that I shouldn’t miss a piece of shit like you when I now have a guy who’s sweeter, sexier, and a million times better in bed. So,” I pause for dramatic effect. “as soon as that realization hits me...yeah, I don’t miss you after that. In fact, after I realize that, I get down on my knees and thank the Lord that you’re gone.”

Not too long after my award-worthy speech, I hear a click on the other end, then nothing. He hung up. Oh yeah, point for Liz! HA! Don’t write me off as a heartless bitch yet, because I’m really not! But seriously…put yourself in my position! You get a phone call at 2 something AM from your ex-best friend telling you that your estranged husband is engaged to another woman. Then you pack, drive to the airport, buy a ticket, and sit in a terminal for over 2 hours after having almost no sleep all week. If that’s not enough to get a sane person thrown in a white padded room, then said estranged husband calls you outta the blue and acts like nothing’s going on. Now, can you honestly tell me you wouldn’t have flipped the bitch switch too? That’s right, I didn’t think so!

So now what am I doing? I’m staring off into La-La Land, having mock confrontations with Max in my head. Going over every scenario I can think of. I wonder if I’ll get to meet that...what the fuck is her name?! Oh well, doesn’t matter. I wonder if I’ll get to meet the dime-store hooker he’s engaged to. I bet she doesn’t even know I exist. Ok, so now I’m going over mock confrontations with her in my head.

Apparently, with all the fun I was having confronting Max and his bitch in my head, I didn’t notice that it wasn’t only amusing, but helps to pass the time, because before I know it, they’re letting me board the plane.

Now I’m safely buckled into my seat next to the window, and isn’t it just my luck I get stuck next to the guy in the fancy suit that I scared off when I growled. I try to give him a small smile, but he quickly looks away. I can’t really make myself care though, because before they’re even done boarding the plane, I’m drifting off to sleep...

Roswell, New Mexico... here I come.

TBC...

Just a quick authors note!

First of all, there is a brand new, beautiful banner on the first page, check it out! Once again, big thanks to Ann for doing it for me!!!

Also... I just wanted to thank everyone for reading this and leaving FB, it really means alot that so far, my fic seems to be getting a good response, and everyone is anxiously awaiting the next part. I*m planning on posting the next part on Friday... however, I*ll probably break down and either post it later today, or tomorrow. I don*t have that many parts written up, so updates will probably be once a week until I get it all typed up.

I also wanna say a big thank you to Tanya for always being there and helping me get everything from my brain to the screen... I love you bunches *twinl!! Also, big thank you to Melyssa for beta-ing this for me! Love you, Habibi!

Ok, ya know what? I*m breaking! I*ma go ahead and post the next part! So... next update will be next Wednesday! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Chapter Two

About six and a half hours and two flight changes later, I look out the window of the descending plane. I finally made it home. Roswell looks just like it did when I left, like no time has passed at all. That’s very disconcerting. I feel like I’ve changed so much. I have changed, and now I’m looking out the window of the plane, which is now almost at a complete stop. Meaning in a few minutes I’ll have to get off of it and go face the real world, and it looks exactly the same.

I look down at my middle finger, slowly sliding the diamond rings off and replacing them on my ring finger. I take a minute to study them. They’re the rings I always dreamed of having. The engagement ring is a large princess cut diamond, almost a full caret, with baguette and solitaire diamonds along side it, going half way around the band. The wedding band has the same baguette and solitaire diamonds, matching it perfectly with the engagement ring. I told Max that it was too much, that we couldn’t afford it, but he said that he didn’t care how long it took him to pay for it…Angels deserve the best.

Butterflies suddenly set up camp in my stomach, so I put my head in my hands. I must look like I’m about to be sick, because the older woman sitting next to me leans over and soothingly rubs my back. “The landings the worst part, honey.” She says in a southern drawl. “Just take a few deep breaths. We’re on the ground, we’re fine.”

I glance over and give her a thankful smile. Not that I was sick, but it was the thought that counted. “I’m fine, thank you. Just a little nervous about coming back home.”

“Oh, you’re from Roswell?” She asks. Great! She’s a tourist and now I’ll have to break the news to her that there are no aliens here.

“Yup, lived here all my life until I left for college.” I say, smiling again, this time my smile not quite as believable.

“Well, welcome home, then.” She says, before she unbuckles her seat belt and reaches into the overhead compartment to get her carry-on luggage.

Oh, we’re stopped. Shit. I gotta get off the plane now. Damn it! I reach under my seat and grab my purse. Standing up and stretching, I pull my cell phone out of my purse and turn it on to check the time. Its 10:42 AM in Roswell, NM. Damn time differences.

I scoot out into the aisle and walk towards the exit of the plane. Once I’ve made it to the steps that will lead me down to the tarmac I stop and look around. I glance over to the small airport building, and already I can see Maria jumping up and down inside. Here goes nothing.

I walk down the steps, across the tarmac, and into the building. The minute I’m through the door, I get hit by what feels like a hurricane, and it takes me a second to realize that Maria has thrown herself into my arms, and knocked us both on the ground.

Despite the fact that I hate being here, I can’t help but laugh as I put my arms around her and squeeze her. “Maria, we should probably get off the floor, then we can cuddle all you want.”

“Oh, sorry!” Maria says, before climbing off me and helping me to my feet. Once I have both feet firmly planted on the floor, our arms are around each other again. I look over her shoulder around the airport and everything gets blurry. It takes me a second to realize that I’m crying. I guess I missed Roswell more than I thought I did.

A few minutes later, Maria pulls back and she’s crying too. We both wipe our eyes then link our arms, making our way to the baggage claim. “I can’t believe you’re really here, Lizzie!” She gushes, once again jumping up and down as we walk.

“Calm down, Maria.” I laugh a little. People are starting to stare at us

“I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises.” She says, her eyes sparkling, the biggest smile I’ve ever seen plastered across her face. “How was your flight?”

“You mean flights.” I correct. “I switched planes in Chicago and Albuquerque, but it wasn’t that bad. The worst happened back in New York when I was in the airport.” I give her a serious look, and then explain to her what happened as we pick up my luggage and begin to make our way out of the airport.

By the time I’m done explaining my ridiculous conversation with Max from earlier this morning, we’re sitting in her car, and she’s gawking at me with her mouth wide open. “Holy shit!” She says in disbelief. “I don’t know you at all!”

I literally sit back a little and look at her “What are you talking about?” I ask. Did she not hear what I said about Max?!

“The Liz Parker I knew would never say things like that...and who the hell is Steven?” I’m Speechless! Is this Pod Person Maria?! Is she on Max’s side now or something?

“First of all, I’m not Liz Parker. I’m not even Liz Evans.” I say quietly, prompting a confused look from Maria. “You’re right about one thing…I’m not the same person that you knew. A lot has changed since high school, Maria. First of all...I go by Beth Parker. That’s how everyone on campus knows me, even Steven, and to answer that question...Steven’s the guy that I’m-well, he...we’re friends,” I say, then add on, “with benefits.”

Instead of the typical best friend lecture consisting of getting a guy to respect you before you give it up, Maria’s reply is “I’m so fucking proud of you!”

“Who the hell are you and what have you done with Maria?!” I practically shout.

“No, Lizzie, think about it! You did it! You got over Max! I never, EVER thought that would happen! You two have been head over ass in love for as long as I can remember! But you’re not you anymore! I still love you, and I’m not gonna judge you about this ‘friends with benefits’ stuff, because I think it’s exactly what you needed!” She says, putting the key in the ignition of her cute little maroon Honda Civic. “You got a picture of Steven?”

“Huh?” I asked, still trying to let everything she said sink in. “Oh yeah…let me get it.” I start digging through my purse searching for my wallet. I finally find it and pull out the picture of me and Steven that’s in there, and hand it to Maria. “That was at the winter formal last year.” I explain as she starts examining it.

“He’s a hottie!” She says, giving me a little nudge. “You looked beautiful.”

I giggle at her “Thank you...on both accounts.” She tries to hand me the picture back. “No, you keep that one, I have another one in here.”

She smiles and sticks the picture behind her steering wheel, in the dashboard where the gas gauge and speedometer are. She gives me a quick wink and puts the car in gear, maneuvering her way toward the exit of the parking lot. “So, tell me all about Beth Parker.” She says, turning the radio volume down slightly.

“You can still call me Liz, Maria. I’d prefer if you did...I kinda miss it.” I say softly.

“Whichever you want, babe. Either way, tell me all about life in New York!” She shoots me that huge DeLuca smile of hers, and giggles a little.

I go on to tell her all about what I’ve been up to since Max and I split, which isn’t all that much besides going to school and trying to juggle two jobs.

“You have two jobs?!” She asks. “I can barely keep up with one! And I’m not even going to a major college, just Roswell Community College. How do you do it?! Where do you work?”

“It’s hard,” I admit, “but I don’t want to move into the dorms, and if I wanna be able to pay rent, have electricity, cable, food, and a phone, I gotta do it.” I glance over at her, before I go back to looking out the window as we get into Roswell. I was right...nothing’s changed. “And on the weekends I work as a bartender at a bar right off campus that all the students go to. Then, during the week...” I pause, she’s never gonna believe my other job. “I work at Hooters.” I say, scrunching my nose, as she nearly flies off the road.

“What?! You work at Hooters?! No offense, Liz...but how did you get a job there?” She asks, glancing down at my boobs.

“Hey! It’s amazing what those push-up padded bras from Victoria’s Secret can do for a girl!” I say. “Besides, the tips are amazing. Especially when the frat boys eat there...which is quite often.”

“Do you have one of those cute white Hooters tank tops?” She asks suddenly.

“Yeah...I even packed it.” I laugh a little at the excited look on Maria’s face. “What?”

“Can I try it on?”

It’s amazing how excited this girl gets over the littlest things. “I thought you hated Hooters, Maria.”

“I do,” she nods her head, “but those white tank tops are SO cute, and you can’t buy them! It’s mean...” I laugh, cause now she’s pouting.

“Well, it’s a good thing that I packed two of them. You can have one of them if you really want one.”

“Really?! YAY!” She bounces in her seat. “How do your parents feel about you working there?”

“They aren’t happy about it...but they’re happy they don’t have to send me any money.”

“Please tell me you packed all your cutest clothes, just so Max knows exactly what he lost.” She looks at me seriously.

“Done.” I say, laughing at the evil smile that appears on her face. I glance back out the window as we start down Roswell’s main drag. “Lets do the time wrap again.” I mutter.

“Yeah, it’s exactly the same as it was when you left.” She says, pulling into the alley behind the Crashdown, coming to a stop by the door leading to the break room. “You ready?” She asks, turning off the car and opening her door.

I sigh. “Ready as I’m ever gonna be.” I say before grabbing my purse and my suitcase. Maria takes my suitcase, knowing my parents are gonna attack me as soon as I get through that door. I take a deep breath, preparing to go inside. Well...here goes nothing....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As anticipated, I’m attacked by both parents the minute Maria and I step inside the door. It takes 10 minutes to pry them off of me, and another 15 to actually get upstairs and safely sequestered in my room with Maria. The only reason we managed to get them away from us is because I reminded them that with both of them up here, no one was running the restaurant. That almost didn’t work either, but Maria and me promised to go downstairs and eat with them as soon as I’m all settled in.

I collapse back on the bed, throwing my arm over my eyes. “I just want to go to sleep.” I mumble.

“Are you tired?” Maria asks, opening my suitcase and looking through it at all my clothes.

“No, I slept through almost every flight.” I say, sitting up and watching her. “I just wanna sleep through being here, then I can go back home.”

Maria looks hurt that I don’t refer to Roswell as ‘home’ anymore, but I can’t worry about that right now. I’m in desperate need of a shower. “I’m showering, then I’ll dry my hair and get dressed and go downstairs, cause I would kill for a slice of Men In Blackberry Pie!”

She laughs, knowing that we pretty much used to live off that pie. “You do that, I’ll pick out what you should wear!” She excitedly starts flinging clothes out of my suitcase in every direction.

“Ok, just don’t make too much of a mess, ok?” I say, grabbing my hair dryer and toiletries and heading into the bathroom.

I come out half an hour later, so fresh and so clean, hair all dried, make-up all done. I just gotta get dressed and I’m ready to go! I’m pretty quick at getting ready, in case you didn’t notice. That comes in really handy when I wake up late for class!

I walk over to the bed where Maria has laid out my clothes, rolling my eyes and walking to the window that goes out onto the balcony…Maria’s favorite part about my room. Sure enough, she’s comfortably lounging in a chair, sunglasses perched on her nose, just enjoying the day. “Maria, I’m not wearing that.”

She glances over at me “Why not?”

“It’s one thing to pack my Hooters tank top, it’s quite another thing to wear it around the Parentals!” I cross my arms across my chest, I don’t wanna get bitched at the first day I’m here. Not the right way to start off this little journey.

Maria stands up, showing me that she’s also changed into my extra tank top. She looks so proud of herself, doing a little turn. “What do you think?”

I look at her slightly sideways. “You look great in my tank top...but is that one of my bras?”

Maria looks down. “Yeah! And I love it! I gotta haul ass to Victoria Secret ASAP!”

I roll my eyes, but grab my clothes off the bed and go in the bathroom, quickly changing. I look in the mirror. I don’t look overtly hot…but I look hot. Oh well, whatever.

I walk out of the bathroom, coming face-to-face with Maria. She giggles after she turns us to both face my mirror “We’re twins! Look how hot we are! Roswell ain’t gonna know what to do with itself!” She once again starts bouncing, no more caffeine for this girl! “Come on, let’s go downstairs.”

Reluctantly, I let Maria drag me down the stairs and into the back room. Right before she’s about to walk out the door, I jump in front of her, and face her. “Just so you know, when my parents bitch about my shirt, you’re gettin blamed, ya heard me?”

Maria rolls her eyes, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

I walk backwards through the swinging door into the café, “Yeah, you’ll think whatever when my mom starts in on you.”

I once again receive an eye roll for my efforts before we plop ourselves down on the stools at the counter closest to the door we came out of. Some waitress I’ve never seen before, looking about 16 walks over. “Hey, welcome to the Crashdown. I’m Mandy. What can I get for ya?” She asks, placing two menus in front of us. Wow, she must not be the brightest crayon in the box. We did just walk out of the backroom…you wouldn’t think we’d need menus but whatever.

“Two Alien Blasts and a Men In Blackberry Pie.” Maria says, giving me that knowing look. We’re gonna be sitting here gossiping all day. Oh well, at least it’ll keep the parentals happy.

“Two Alien Blasts and two slices of pie?” Mandy asks, starting to scribble the order on her order pad.

“No, a whole pie.” I clarify, causing her to look at me like I’m crazy. “And put that on my parents tab.”

“Um, we don’t have ‘tabs’ here…I think you’re at the wrong restaurant.” She says. Ooh, she’s getting kinda snotty with me...Bad move, Mandy, I’m not in the mood.

“My parents are Jeff and Nancy Parker. I’m sure you can find a tab back there somewhere, can’t ya?” I say, pointedly.

Her eyes get slightly wider. “Yeah, I’m sure I can work something out with that. I’ll be right back with your order.” She says before practically running to the other side of the café.

Maria starts laughing as I rest my chin in my hand and glance around. “You know she’s gonna have someone else bring us our order back, don’t you?”

I shrug, “Oh well, didn’t like her anyway.” Something at the end of the counter catches my attention. I take a closer look and am so shocked at what I see that my elbow slips off the counter and I fall forward slightly.

“What the hell was that?” Maria asks, starting to laugh at me. If it were for any other reason, I wouldn’t have blamed her, but I’m currently speechless. I look back over at her, my mouth hanging wide open. “What?” She asks, suddenly concerned. I lean back slightly so she can see where I was looking. Sure enough, she notices, her mouth dropping wide open.

At the end of the counter sits Max Evans and a rather dumb looking blonde girl who I can only assume to be the fiancé. “What the hell is her name again?” I ask, somehow finding my voice.

“Tess.” Maria says, slightly hiding behind me. No doubt to keep herself from being seen by Tess. What the hell kinda name is that? I hate her already.

I give her a once over before turning back to Maria. “She looks like a duck.”
Maria starts choking on her spit, and all I can do is laugh at her, then before I know what I’m doing, I’m standing up and walking over to where my husband is currently seated. I walk up just in time to hear Tess say, “The service here sucks, baby. Remind me next time that the burger isn’t worth this.”

I stop myself behind Max and Tess...right between them before I say, “Well, I’m pretty close with the owners, I’ll be sure to talk to them about the service.”

Tess glances over her shoulder before spinning her stool around to face me. Max’s head whips around so quick I’m certain that he just gave himself whiplash. He has the classic ‘deer caught in headlights’ look.

I give Tess a smile before turning to Max. “Well, Max Evans…fancy seein you here! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Sweetie?” Tess says softly, gaining Max’s attention. “Aren’t you gonna introduce me to your friend?”

I’m hysterically laughing in my head at the thought of me and Max being friends. “I’m sorry, where are my manners.” I say before sticking my hand out to Tess. “I’m Liz, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Tess Harding.” She says, placing her hand in mine, giving me a big smile.

I return the smile, but it’s fake as hell. Oh well, she doesn’t seem to notice. “So,” I say after I take my hand back and glance at Max who looks dumbfounded. “How do you two know each other?” I ask her.

Her smile gets even bigger, if that’s possible before she excitedly replies, “We’re engaged!” and sticks out her hand for me to inspect the engagement ring on her finger.

Wow, Max suddenly became a cheapskate because I can barely see the one tiny little diamond on the yellow gold band. To be completely honest, the ring is ugly as sin, and I’m biting down on my tongue so hard I’m sure I’ll draw blood to keep myself from laughing. “Aww…it’s cute.” I say glancing at Max. “When’s the diamond getting put in?” Tess’s smile falls, but I smile back at her. “I’m just teasing, Max. It’s beautiful…really. Congratulations.”

I reach up to toy with my necklace, suddenly having no clue what the hell I’m doing over here, when Tess catches sight of my rings. “Oh my God!” She exclaims, grabbing my hand and looking at them. “These are beautiful!” She inspects them from every angle before shoving them into Max’s face. “Honey! Look at these!”

Up until now, Max has yet to say anything. He looks at my rings, then up at me. “Nice.” is all he can say.

“Nice?!” Tess asks, pulling my hand back to look at them again. God, I should just cut my hand off and give it to her. She looks up at me. “You’re very lucky, you must have an amazing husband.”

At this point, I actually do laugh out loud. Tess looks confused and Max is the color of a tomato. “We um, we’re not together anymore. We separated almost a year ago.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Tess says, giving my hand a little squeeze. Damn her for being nice. I want to hate her! She’s making everything difficult. Oh well, I can hate her for that then. “I don’t remember seeing you around Roswell before...” she says, thoughtfully, “Did you just move here?”

“No, I’m from here, actually, but I go to NYU.”

“Really? Max used to go there!” Tess says, looking over at Max. He shifts in his seat, obviously uncomfortable. “Is that how you know each other?”

Do I really wanna fuck up everything right now? I mean I could. I could just blurt out ‘No, we know each other from high school, and then we got married and then went to NYU together.’ No, I’ll go a different route. “Actually, we knew each other back in high school.” Simple enough, right?

“Wow, that’s cool that you two ended up at NYU together. Did you plan it that way?” I hate her. She is honestly interested in this.

Before I can say anything else, my dad walks up behind me. “Honey, what are you wearing?” He asks, not even noticing Max, but giving Tess a polite smile.

“My work shirt, Daddy. I told Maria you were gonna bitch about it, but she made me. You go talk to her.” I say, pointing him back in Maria’s direction. Maria looks up and sees my dad walking her direction and she quickly jumps off the stool, running into the back room. I shake my head. I tried to warn her. As my dad disappears through the swinging door I hear him say, “You can run, Maria, but you can’t hide! I know where you live.”

“You work at Hooters?” Max asks, suddenly very talkative. I think I better flip the bitch switch for this.

“Yeah. I have two jobs actually. I have to pay for a lot of stuff, and it’s been kinda hard since the separation. I’m doing it all by myself.”

Tess gasps slightly. “I retract my previous statement about you being married to such a wonderful guy. He sounds like a total asshole!”

I snicker a little “Yeah, he really is.”

My mom appears out of left field, “Honey, where’s your father?”

“Chasing Maria. She made me wear this shirt.” I turn to face her so she can see it.

“Oh, for Heavens sake, Lizzie!” She shakes her head.

“Mom, its Hooters! Not a strip club! Go talk to Maria about it.” Have you ever noticed how parents have the uncanny ability to make you suddenly have a bone-crushing headache? I hate that...

“Ok, I better go save Maria so I can lecture her.” She starts to walk away but then stops. Max has been hiding his face, trying to keep from being seen, but his cover’s been blown, my mom saw him. “Max,” she says tightly, “what the hell are you doing in here?” Whoa...it just got 20 degrees colder.

“Just getting something to eat, Mrs. P.” He replies, trying to be polite.

“Ok, eat and then get out.” She says sternly before walking away.

“Wow, I thought *I* was a bitch.” Oh shit, I think I just said that out loud! Yeah, I did. Damn.

“Why was she like that toward you, Max?” Tess asks, getting suspicious. “There’s something I’m not being told. What is it?”

Max starts stuttering, but I really, REALLY wanna be the one to tell her! “Oh, forgive me. I didn’t properly introduce myself.” I say, giving Max a triumphant look before looking back at Tess. “I’m Elizabeth Parker-Evans”

She stands up, being rather calm about the whole thing “Wait a second, I don’t understand...” She’s apparently smarter than I thought, cause by the look on her face, she put the pieces of the puzzle together. She looks at Max. “Honey...what’s going on?”

Max gives me a death glare, but I look him directly in the eyes, letting him know that he doesn’t intimidate me. “Well...” Max starts. I look back at Tess. Wow, I feel like a bitch. She has tears swimming in her big blue eyes. “Tess...” he takes a deep breath. “This is my wife, Liz.”

And then... she faints.

TBC...

Hey guys! I know I*m supposed to be posting this on Wednesday, but I will be moving into a loft apartment with the hubby on Wed... and we have a TON of stuff, and only two days to move it all, so I won*t have time. Chapter Four will be posted next week, on Wednesday, as usual.

I*m loving all the FB that you guys are leaving.. it inspires me to continue to try to put out good chapters for you all, I hope the FB keeps coming, the sooner I have the whole fic typed up, the quicker the updates will appear

Just so you all know... Tess will not be an evil whore in this fic, you can go ahead and like her! *lol*

I*m shuttin up now... On with your regularly scheduled programming!...

Chapter Three

After Tess fainted, Max picked her up off the floor, rushing her to the break room and setting her down on the old couch back there. My parents and Maria quickly appeared, and it all went downhill from there. Well actually, it had gone downhill before that, but it went crazy after that.

Everyone was shouting at everyone. My dad grabbed Max by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the floor, calling him every bad name in the book before my mom pried his hands off Max and then started bitching at him.

“Hey, she’s waking up!” Maria shouts over the noise, and all eyes dart to the couch where Tess is now slowly sitting up.

Max rushes to her side, taking her face between his hands. “Are you ok, baby?”

After a minute of looking at Max with a totally blank look on her face, she slowly reaches up, taking his hands and pulling them away from her. “I can’t believe you did this to me.” She said, her voice sounding dead. “You...” she stops, her voice is cracking, but she doesn’t want to appear weak. She clears her throat. “You dated me. You slept with me. You got engaged to me, and you’re married to her?”

I can’t believe how calm she’s being. She hasn’t raised her voice at all. It’s actually scarier than if she were screaming and throwing things at Max.

Max looks down, before whispering. “Yes.”

“Were you just not gonna tell me?” She asks, tears streaming down her face. “How did you plan to marry me without getting divorced?”

“I was gonna figure something out.” He tries to reason with her. “We agreed we weren’t gonna get married right away…I thought that I could get the divorce handled and you wouldn’t have to get involved.” All my parents, Maria, and me can do is look on in fascination, waiting anxiously to see what’s gonna happen next.

“And you weren’t gonna tell me?” She asks. All Max can do is shake his head. She takes a deep breath, nodding slightly. “Ok. So…I, um...I don’t even know what to say to you anymore.” She slips her engagement ring off her ringer and stands up. Max stands up, looking down at her. She walks around him, towards the back door. She turns around and looks at him. “I don’t even know you,” she says, really pissed now, “and I’m pretty sure, and no scratch that. I’m positive that with the stunt you pulled, I don’t want to know you. I don’t wanna see you ever again.” She whips the ring at him, and it bounces off his chest, falling forgotten on the floor. She looks over at me. “I’m so sorry that you’re married to him.” She says quietly, and then walks out the back door.

The door slams behind her, and we’re all frozen. No one speaks, no one moves. Finally, Max drops down on the couch, his head in his hands. Maria and I look over at each other at the same time, silently asking the other what the hell we should do now.

“I need to talk to Liz.” Max says, causing everyone to look at him. He looks up, his eyes staring into mine. “Alone.”

My dad takes a menacing step towards Max. “If you touch her, AT ALL. I will hunt you down, shoot you in both kneecaps and leave you to die like a dog on the side of the road in a ditch. Do you hear me?”

Wow! My dad’s nothing more than a big teddy bear, but he can sure scare the crap outta someone when he needs to. Judging by the look on Max’s face, he got the message, loud and clear. “Yeah, I hear you.” Max replies softly.

My parents walk back into the café, and Maria stops to give me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Good luck.” She whispers before she leaves as well.

I look down at Max. If looks could kill...well, I’d be dead. He scoots to the far left side of the couch, gesturing for me to sit down on the far right side. I cautiously sit down, never taking my eyes off of him. I know Max would never hurt me...but he’s violently pissed off…I’m gonna keep an eye on him.

“When did you get into town?” He finally asks.

I fiddle with my acrylic nails. “Earlier today. Only a few hours ago, actually.”

He nods. “So you were…like on your way here when I talked to you last night?”

I glance back over at him. “You remember talking to me?” He holds up one hand, tilting it back and forth, telling me that he kinda remembers. “Well, I was sitting in the airport.” He gives me a questioning look. “Maria called me at like two am, New York time. She told me that you and Tess were engaged. So...I hopped on the first flight out.”

Max snorts a little laugh. “I bet Steven loved that.”

I look down, concentrating on my nails. “He wasn’t ecstatic about it, but he wasn’t pissed off. It’s not like it would have made a difference either way. I don’t answer to Steven. I don’t answer to anyone. I had enough of that when we were together.”

Just as Max is about to say something, Maria comes running into the break room with my purse. “Your purse is ringing.”

“Thanks.” I say, taking my purse and fishing my phone out of it. I check the caller ID, it’s the frat house, which doesn’t always mean that it’s Steven. I’m a popular girl to talk to, I guess. People I don’t even know call me from there! I’m the first number on the freaking speed dial, for cryin out loud. I decide to go ahead and answer it. “Hello?”

“BETH!” is the reply from the other end. I pull the phone away from my ear, and Max must have heard it, because he looks over. But I can’t not laugh.

“Sigma boys!” I say back into the phone. I often get random calls from Steven where he puts me on speakerphone and I end up talking to half the fraternity before I get off the phone.“What’s goin on?” I ask.

“Where you at?” “What are you doing?” “When are you coming home?” This is why I hate speakerphone. I have like 12 people asking me questions at the same time.

“Ok, one at the time, boys! First of all, I’m not doing anything, I don’t know when I’m coming home, and I’m in Roswell, New Mexico.”

“Why?” I think that was Eddie, but I can never tell. Boys all sound the same on the phone.

“I had some shit to deal with. I’ll be home in a few days. Do you think you guys can manage without me?” I ask. Max is staring at me...and he doesn’t look too happy. Oh well, c’est la vie!

“John broke the chandelier last night!” Someone yells from the other end. I think that was Eric.

“How did John manage to break the chandelier?” I ask.

“He thought it would hold him up if he tried to swing on it!” Comes the reply, causing people to start laughing. “It didn’t. It broke. He flew across the room and broke his wrist.”

“He broke his wrist?!” I can’t believe I associate with these people.

“Yup, it was awesome!” Ok, that was Steven.

“Steven, someone breaking their wrist isn’t awesome! That’s really mean!” I sigh. “Ok, boys. I gotta go, no more broken bones until I come back, do you hear me?”

“Yes.” They all chorus obediently.

“Good boys, I’ll talk to you guys later. Bye.” I hang up before they can start talking again. That’s the trick to getting off the phone with them. Just hang up. Works every time. I put my phone back in my purse and look over at Max. “Sorry.”

“How many people were you talking to?” He asks.

I shrug. “I dunno, they have speaker phone at the frat house, so I was talking to however many people were sitting there and paying attention to the phone call.”

“Why did they call you Beth?” He asks, maintaining eye contact.

“Everyone calls me Beth. According to everyone at NYU, I’m Beth Parker.” I say, chewing on the inside of my lip. “I stopped going by Liz after you left. I needed a change.”

“Why did you tell them you didn’t know when you were going back? You just came down here to ruin my life, and now you’ve succeeded, so you can go back home” Max spits the last word out like it would kill him to say it.

“I didn’t come here to ruin your life, Max.” I correct him.

“Oh really?! Then what the fuck did you come back for?!” He practically yells at me.

“You wanna know what I came back here for?” I ask. He nods his head. “Ok, I came back here to get a divorce.”

His mouth falls open. “What?”

I scoff “Please, Max. Tell me you didn’t see this coming! You were engaged to another woman! What? Just because she’s outta the picture, I’m gonna stay married to you?! Fuck that! I don’t want to be tied to you anymore! I wanna do exactly what my dad suggested I do. Come back here, get you the hell outta my life and then get back to New York.”

He looks around the back room like he’s lost. Then he looks back at me, his soulful amber eyes burning into mine. “Ok.”

“Ok?” I ask. There’s no way. This is Max Evans. Nothing is that simple!

“I’ll have my dad talk to a colleague about drawing up the papers. I don’t want anything of yours, and I’m assuming you don’t want anything from me, do you?” He asks.

I shake my head. “I just want the divorce, then I want to go back home.” He looks away from me, shaking his head. “What? Don’t look at me like that, Max. You’ll get over Tess in about a minute and then you’ll be onto the next girl. Don’t act like I inconvenienced you in any way.”

He stands up suddenly, looking down at me. “You’re right. You did me a favor. I’m a free man now. I’ll talk to my dad about the papers ASAP, but right now I gotta get my crew together to go hit a few clubs and look for some bitches. See you later, Angel.” He says before strolling out the swinging door and into the café.

I can’t fucking believe him sometimes! He’s such an asshole! I look down by my shoe, seeing Tess’s engagement ring sitting there. I pick it up and look at it for a minute. Maria comes running through the door, plopping down on the couch, demanding details of what just happened.

I give her the play-by-play of what happened during me and Max’s private time in the break room. “OHMIGOD!” She screeches. “I can’t believe him!”

“Believe it, sister. That’s Max Evans for you.” That’s really the only explanation you need if you know the asshole Max is these days. Maria’s cell phone starts ringing and she answers it. After a few minutes, an evil smile appears on her face and she says goodbye and hangs up. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“That was Michael.” And I’m cringing again. “He just called to let me know that he just got off the phone with Max and the boys are going to the club tonight to celebrate Max being single again.”

Why is she explaining this to me? I don’t give a fuck. “So?”

“So...” Maria explains. “We’re gonna be there too! You, Tess, and me. You know that he’s gonna be tryin to get anything in a skirt to go home with him...so we’ll just go fuck it all up for him!”

I gotta hand it to Maria, that does sound like a good time. “One problem…Tess probably doesn’t want to see me ever again.”

“I’ll handle it.” Maria says, already pushing buttons on her phone. She reaches over and takes Tess’s engagement ring from my hand and stands up from the couch. “I’m going back to my place to get ready. You go upstairs and do the same. Be ready in about an hour, ok?” She gives me a kiss on the top of the head, and with that she’s gone.

I sit dumbfounded for a second before I get up off the couch, go back out front, let my parents know I’m going out with Maria tonight, and go upstairs to get ready.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Why the hell did I agree to go out tonight? I just want to go to sleep! Haven’t I been through enough shit so far without adding this on top of it?

I take another long look in the mirror. I’m wearing my favorite party pants, tight and black, with zippers that go up the front of each leg. Some platform sandals, and a baby blue lace halter-top. Not too slutty, but I definitely look hot...if I don’t say so myself!

I fluff my spiral-curled hair one last time, giving it a few more sprays of styling gel, before Maria, Tess, and Isabel walk through my bedroom door. I turn and look at them. “Hey guys.” I say, giving Isabel an unsure glance. I haven’t talked to her since before Max and me separated, and since she *is* Max’s sister, I’m really not sure what she’s doing here.

Isabel gives me a big smile, crossing the distance between us and enveloping me in a hug. “Hey there, little sister.” She giggles. Isabel’s a year older than Max and I, and has called me ‘little sister’ for as long as I can remember. “Long time no see.” She pulls back, still holding my hands and gives me a once-over. “You look great.”

“Thank you.” I can’t help but blush. Isabel was voted ‘Most Beautiful Girl’ of her graduating class, so compliments from her mean a lot. “I’m surprised you’re talking to me.” I add.

She snorts a laugh. “Why? You think I’d stop talking to you because my brother’s a retard who couldn’t hang onto a good woman if you tied her to him?” She asks, tilting her head to the side. “You know me and Max don’t get along, and I can’t believe you would think I’d be on his side of this madness. He’s an idiot! Plain and simple. I swear my parents found him wandering the side of the road and took pity on him. There’s no way in hell I’m biologically related to him.”

Maria, Tess, and I all start laughing. I don’t think any of us would disagree with anything that Isabel said, but it’s funny just the same. I look at all three of them and their club attire. “You three are looking rather sexy tonight.” I go to my purse and pull out my camera. “C’mon, I want a picture of us before we go out.”

We stop downstairs to have my mom take a few pictures of us. Once my mom gets a hold of the camera, we end up taking at least half a roll of film.

We finally just have to make a mad dash out the front door after snatching the camera from my mom. The three of them immediately turn to get into a shiny, new-looking maroon Cadillac Escalade. Isabel pulls car keys out of her purse, and the Escalade makes a chirping noise as the locks dis-engage. “Wait a second.” I say, stopping and looking at them. “Did ya’ll steal this, or what?”

Isabel laughs a little “Nope, Daddy bought it for me for my 21st. Nice, right?” Her eyes sparkle as she looks back lovingly at her vehicle.

“Pft, nice is the understatement of the year!” I correct, climbing in the backseat with Tess. Maria and Isabel hop in the front, and we’re off.

“Little music to get us in a dancing mood.” Isabel says, pulling a CD out of a CD holder attached to her sun visor and slips it into the player. A few seconds later, “Yeah” starts pumping through the speakers. We dance, as best we can, in the car and sing along with Usher.

I lean over a little towards Tess. “Hey.” I have to speak up a little to get her attention over the music. She looks over at me, and stops dancing. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry...ya know, for w…”

“Shut up.” She cuts me off. “You did me a favor! I, apparently, didn’t really know Max Evans, and I would’ve made the biggest mistake of my life if I would’ve gone through with the marriage. You shouldn’t be apologizing…I should be thanking you!” She reaches across the seat and hugs me.

I’m shocked to say the least, but I guess I can understand where she’s coming from. I wish I would’ve had someone to tell me about ‘The Real Max Evans’ before I married him. Can’t change it now, I just have to focus on getting through being here and get back to NYU.

My phone starts ringing, so I quickly ask Isabel to turn the volume down. I check the caller ID, it’s Steven’s cell phone. “Hey sweetie, what’re you doing?” I say in greeting.

“Oh, just thinkin about you.” He chuckles. “What are you doing?”

“I’m in a very fancy Escalade getting ready to go out and party.” I giggle, all the girls are looking at me. Maria must know its Steven, cause she has that damn smile on her face again.

“Oh really?” He asks, “Does this fancy Escalade belong to a guy I should be jealous about?”

“Nope, belongs to my friend Isabel. No need for jealousy.” He’s teasing me about being jealous. Steven can do whatever...or whomever he pleases...as can I. The phone seems really static-y for some reason. “Where are you?”

He stutters for a second before saying “Oh, me and a few of the guys are starting Spring Break early. We’re going on vaycay!”

“Steven, there’s another whole week of classes before Spring Break. You’re gonna miss all your assignments.” I hate being practical and boring. Why couldn’t I have just told him to be careful and have fun? I suck at life.

“Babe, we always blow off the week before Spring Break. Ya know, make it an extra long Spring Break. It’ll be fine. We’ve done this the past 3 years. Don’t worry.” He starts talking to someone in the background. “Ok, gotta go. I’ll call you tomorrow, ok?”

“Yeah, just be careful, ok?”

“Got it!” He says. “Bye, Beth.” Which is then followed by a louder “Bye Beth!” from the rest of the guys with him.

I roll my eyes and laugh at them “Bye guys.”

I hang up and put my phone back in my purse. I glance up and everyone is looking at me, obviously interested in what just happened. I explain the conversation, and then explain Steven to Isabel and Tess. After I showed them the picture of Steven and me from the Winter Formal, and after they finished going on and on about how beautiful I look and how gorgeous Steven is, we make it to the club. We all climb out and make our way to the front door. “Oh God, we’re never gonna get in here!” I whine, there’s a line at least a mile long.

“Oh, please!” Isabel rolls her eyes at me. She walks past everyone in line and up to the bouncer, who gives her a wide smile before giving her a peck on both cheeks and ushering us into the club.

We make our way to the bar, and order a round of drinks before finding a table off to the side to sit down. “Ok,” I start, taking a sip of my Kamikaze, “Are you like VIP here or something?” I ask Isabel. “I mean, that guy just let us right in! Didn’t card us or anything!”

Isabel shakes her head. “Not really VIP. That was Jesse…we used to date. We didn’t really have anything in common, so we decided it would be best to just remain friends, and we have.”

A girl walks by with a box-looking thing holding test-tube shots. Maria calls her over and buys four. We pick our flavor of choice, cheers and down the shot. “Ok.” Maria claps and jumps up off her chair. “It’s time to dance, ladies. Get up!”

The four of us make our way to the dance floor just in time for whatever random techno song that was playing to mix over into Eminem’s new song “Just Loose It.”

We’re out on the dance floor dancing for a good four or five songs when the woman with the test tube shots comes back and tells us each to pick one. When we try to explain to her that we didn’t buy any, she tells us that we have 4 rounds of shots, already paid for. We do a round and she tells us to just call her over when we’re ready for another round.

Tess and I decide to go sit down and try to catch our breath, while Isabel and Maria continue bumpin and grindin out on the dance floor.

“I wonder who bought us those rounds of shots.” Tess says thoughtfully as she pulls a cigarette out of her pack and lights it up.

I’m slightly shocked, Tess doesn’t seem like a smoker to me for some reason, but whatever. “Yeah, I doubt that its anyone we particularly like right now.”

She raises one perfectly shaped brow, blowing a steady stream of smoke from her mouth. “Max?”

“Who else?” I ask, propping my chin in my palm, just as Maria and Isabel walk up to the table, followed by the waitress with the shots. We take another shot and Tess and I fill the other two in on who we think is behind the free drinks.

“Why would Max buy us shots?” Isabel asks, looking at me skeptically. “Max and I don’t get along, and Max is in hot water with both of you.” She points to Tess and me. “I really don’t think it’s him.”

“No, it makes perfect sense.” Maria leans forward in her chair. “We know he’s gonna be here tonight, so that makes him a prime suspect already. Besides, he would stop at nothing to annoy the shit out of all three of you any way possible.”

Tess starts giggling, “Well, if he plans to annoy us by buying us drinks...bring it on!” She waves over the waitress, and we take our last two rounds of shots. “Ooh, speak of the devil.” She nods her head across the dance floor. I turn my head, and there he is. Max is leaning against the wall, flirting with some blonde girl. By the look of things, she’s eatin up every line Max is spitting out.

I start twirling my wedding rings on my finger, and then I look over at Tess. “You got your engagement ring?”

She looks at me, clearly confused. “Yeah, Maria gave it back to me earlier, it’s in my purse. Why?”

“Put it on.” I instruct her, and she does as I ask. Once she has her engagement ring on her ring finger, I grab her hand, pulling her off the stool. “Girls,” I glance back at Maria and Isabel. “Get ready for a show.” I wink at them and proceed to drag Tess over to where Max is still flirting, filling her in on my plan the whole way over there. We stroll right up to Max, our arms linked.

“Hey Max!” Tess practically shouts at him, acting like she’s ecstatic to see him. We both flash him a big smile, and we both receive a slightly dumbfounded look. I *know* he knew we were here, but I also know he wasn’t expecting us to actually go near him.

“Max?” The blonde tries to get his attention. Now that I see her up close, she definitely ain’t that cute, but whatever. “Who are they?”

“I’m Liz, and this is Tess.” I smile at her, an extremely fake smile that totally contradicts the fact that when I said our names, I was slightly bitchy about it. “Who are you?”

She crosses her arms across her chest, cocking one of her hips. Ooh, she wants to get an attitude. Fun stuff! “I’m Courtney. How do you know Max?”

Tess and I exchange a rather mischievous smile before I go ahead and say it “I’m Liz Evans, Max’s wife.” I hold up my left hand so she can see my rings.

“And I’m Tess Harding, Max’s fiancé.” Tess adds, also holding up her left hand.

“Excuse me?” Courtney squeaks out before turning to Max. “Is this true?!” He can do nothing but look away and nervously scratch behind his ear. “Ok, so it is true.” She nods, glancing onto the dance floor. “Ok, Max?” He looks over at her, and not a second later, Max’s head whips to the right after Courtney slaps him. Hard. She looks over at Tess and I. “Thank you for saving me the trouble of learning what a dirt bag he is on my own. You two have a good night.” And with that, she’s off.

Tess and I exchange a glance before both looking at Max, whose about to implode. His fists are clenching and unclenching, and he’s grinding his teeth. Well, hell. I already pissed him off, might as well keep going. “What’s wrong, Max? Not happy to see us?” I ask innocently.

He, of course, pulls a Max, avoiding what I say and taking the conversation in a whole different direction. “I saw you got the shots I ordered you. You two nice and liquored up now?”

He then proceeds to slowly look both me and Tess up and down before licking his lips, and smirking at us. I actually have to stop myself from gagging.

“You’re fuckin disgusting!” Tess grinds out before turning on her heel and stomping away, leaving me to deal with Max.

Max circles me until my back is facing the wall, and then advances towards me. Instinctively, I back up. He’s like a tiger, stalking his prey, and damn it, he’s got me cornered. My back just came into contact with the wall, and unless it suddenly opens up and swallows me, Max has me exactly where he wants me.

He puts his hands against the wall on either side of my head, leaning down so that his nose is touching mine. “What’s wrong, Evans?” He slowly drawls out. “You can’t be scared of little ole me.”

I hate his eyes. I mean, I absolutely love them. They’re no color I’ve ever seen before…they change from green, to brown to amber, or they’re an interesting mix of all those thrown together. The reason I hate them though is that I’ve never been able to resist them. “I’m not scared of you.” I sound confident, I just wish I felt it.

Max grins at me for a minute before purring, “They’re playin our song.” He grabs my hand and drags me out on the dance floor.

Oh shit, what did I get myself into???


TBC...

Hey guys!! I know I*m not supposed to be posting until Wednesday... but if you really wanna get technical about it... its Wednesday in Japan! *lol* Plus, I don*t think ya*ll are really gonna mind gettin a new part a day early, right??

*JUST* got my cable and internet hooked up... still aren*t all unpacked and all that, but... ya can*t have everything!!

Ok, heres the next installment... lemme know how you like it!

Chapter Four

I hate myself. I hate myself. I hate myself.

How did I get in this predicament?! I’m being drug out onto the dance floor by Max fucking Evans! This is not what I wanted to happen!

As I’m following behind Max, since I don’t have the choice of running away because he’s got a good grip on my hand, I notice that I’m pretty drunk. It takes more concentration to not wobble when I walk, and with each second that passes I’m finding it harder and harder to care that I shouldn’t wanna dance with Max.

As we hit the center of the dance floor Max turns so that he’s facing me. He wraps one of his arms around my waist, pulling me flush against him, swaying to the music thumping through the speakers.

He starts off slow, perfectly in sync with the music, then the bass hits and the tempo speeds up, and so does Max, never missing a beat.

Despite my best efforts, my hips move in time with his. I bob my head along with Alicia Key’s first words in “My Boo”, being careful not to make eye contact with Max. Eye contact is disastrous.

Max reaches up, putting his index finger under my chin, bringing my head up, and our eyes lock as he starts singing the words to me.

Do you remember girl
I was the one who gave you your first kiss
Cause I remember girl
I was the one who said put your lips like this.

I’m nothing more than a pile of goo on the floor as Max leans his head forward, softly brushing his lips against mine...just like he did the first time he kissed me. As much as I know this isn’t what I want, that I don’t want to get back together with Max, I can’t walk away from him. It takes every ounce of will power I have not to kiss him back.

He pulls away, still staring into my eyes as we keep grinding our hips to the music and he keeps singing the words.

It started when we were younger
You were mine (my boo)
Now another brother's taking over
But its still in your eyes (my boo)
Even though we used to argue it's alright
I know we haven't seen each other
In awhile but you will always be my boo

As soon as I let the words seep into my brain, I realize what I’m doing. I’m dancing with my soon-to-be ex-husband. I’m letting him kiss me, and sing to me, and be how he used to be before he turned into the prick he is now. No. Fuck this! I’m not letting myself get sucked into this abyss again!

I wrench myself out of his arms, pushing him away from me, and turning around and hauling ass to the nearest exit.

I burst through the door into the crisp night air, taking deep breathes, trying to get myself back under control. Why do I let him do this to me? Why do I do this to myself?

I lean back against the side of the building in the alley, and about three seconds later the door flies open and Max comes barreling outside. “What the fuck was that?!” He yells, stalking my direction the minute he lays eyes on me.

“What the fuck was what?!” I counter. Who does he think he is?!

“What’s your problem?! Are you bi-polar or something?! One minute, we’re dancing and we’re having a good time, the next second...you flip the fuck out and run off!” He comes too dangerously close to me, totally invading my personal space bubble, as his eyes pierce down into mine.

I won’t back down though. “My problem is simple, Max! My problem is the same thing it’s always been! YOU! You are my problem!” I punctuate that statement by giving him several hard pokes in the chest. Damn...he’s been working out. I think I almost broke my nail! “You can’t do this to me, Max! I won’t let you do this to me again!” I quickly step past him, intent on running as far away as I can.

I don’t make it too far, because before I’m even a good two feet away from him, his hand closes tightly around my upper arm, spinning me back around, face to face with him. “Do what to you again?” He growls at me.

“Never mind. It’s nothing now. I just want you to leave me alone!” I wriggle against the grip he has on my upper arms, but he’s got a pretty good grip. I think I’m about to have a rage blackout. Do you think if I kill him during one of those I can get away with it?

“No.” Max says. His voice is low and commanding, instead of loud. “I want to know what the fuck you meant by that.” I look away from him, but he only briefly releases one of my arms to bring my face back to his. “Tell me.”

“FINE!” I explode, breaking free of his grip. “What I meant by saying that I wouldn’t let you do it to me again is that I won’t let you close to me again. I won’t let you weasel your way back into my heart, just for you to break it again the next time something blonde in a skirt walks past you!” He looks totally blown away, but I’m on a roll now, baby... “Why did you marry me?! You obviously have a thing for blondes!”

“What? I get engaged to Tess...I date one blonde, and suddenly that’s my type?” He shakes his head. “What the fuck kinda sense does that make?!”

“No, not one blonde, Max! There was that blonde bimbo earlier in the club, and that one blonde girl...Shannon while we were in college!” The words are out of my mouth before I even realize it, and I immediately drop my head, as if its gonna bring the words back. Oh Shit.

I look back up at Max, and he’s in shock, but he somehow manages to find his voice. “What do you know about Shannon?”

Tears start welling up in my eyes. “I know that I spent four hours cooking you dinner one night when we were at NYU. I blew off my last class of the day so that I could have the dinner perfect for you when you got home from work.” I take a deep breath, not wanting to rehash this, but knowing it’s way too late to go back now. “Ten minutes before you were due home from work you called me and told me you had to work late. I was disappointed, and upset...because it was our four year anniversary.”

“Our anniversary was in November. That happened in like...March.” Max interrupts. Well, at least he knows what night I’m talking about and when our anniversary is.

“Not the anniversary of when we got together...of when we made love for the first time.” I pause, glancing over to check his reaction. The entire time I’ve been telling this story, I’ve looked everywhere but to Max...but now he has an unreadable expression on his face. “Anyway. I put the food in the oven to keep it warm and I decided to go to the coffee place down the street to get coffee...but they were closed. So I walked three blocks over to the other coffee place...The Daily Grind?” Realization lights up in Max’s eyes...he knows where I’m going with this. “So...I walk in there and I see you. Sitting at a corner table with Shannon Keefauver. You had your arms around her...and you guys were all close and stuff...both smiling like idiots...”

I angrily wipe away the tears that have somehow leaked down my cheeks. Why do I let him make me cry?? I can’t take this anymore! I just gotta get outta here. I’ve been holding in the fact that I knew about that for too long...but now he knows. So that’s like, some kinda closure or something. I can move on. “It was a long time ago, it doesn’t matter now. But just so you know...that’s the reason I got so distant. That’s the reason we stopped talking to each other...cause I refused to talk to you...I refused to trust you. Two months later, you left.”

Max falls back against the wall with a soft thud, sliding to the ground. Here’s my chance. I can take off now, run like hell and forget that I ever had this conversation with him...or I can stop running. I don’t know why, but I go with option number two. I sit across from Max, leaning up against the wall on the other side of the alley.

For the longest time, neither of us says anything, we just sit there in total silence. There’s so much between us, I don’t think either of us knows what to do next. After about five minutes, Max finally breaks the silence, but he says the last thing I ever expected him to say.

“You know that guy, Scott?” I think back, remembering no Scott. I simply shake my head. “Scott Hermann? He was in one of my study groups...” Oh...that guy! I nod my head. I’m not gonna take my chance with opening my mouth again, only God knows what’ll come out next time I do. “So anyway,” Max continues. “He was trying to get hooked up with Shannon all year, so I finally asked Shannon if she could meet me at The Daily Grind. I said I wanted to get a copy of her notes for that damn Shakespeare class I was totally bombing, but I also told Scott to meet me there too...so that he and Shannon could talk.” Max picks at the ground next to him, refusing to look up at me. “I felt bad for putting Shannon on the spot like that cause she was always so cool to me, and I’d already told Scott what I was doing...so I told Shannon. She was ecstatic...turns out she was interested in him too and she almost squeezed me to death when she found out Scott was going there to meet her.”

Oh. My. God. I’m a total idiot. I cannot believe I did that. I feel like the stupidest person ever. I ruined my marriage...for nothing??? A fresh batch of tears spring up in my eyes.

“I got a call about six months ago from Scott. Him and Shannon were getting married and wanted me to be the Best Man. It was a nice ceremony. Small, just family and friends, but nice.” He takes a deep breath. “Liz...”

“I’m an idiot.” I say, climbing to my feet, causing Max to follow suit. “I...why didn’t you just tell me?!”

Max’s mouth drops open. “Are you kidding me?! Tell you I was going to The Daily Grind with Shannon?! You woulda shot me!! You were always thinking I was interested in her!”

“You coulda told me it was to hook up Scott and Shannon!” I scream back, taking a step towards him.

“Yeah, because you would have believed me?!” He shouts back, coming within inches of me.

We do nothing but stare into each other’s eyes, breathing heavily from all the shouting and adrenaline. Then, we both move. Our lips just crash together, and it’s like I just came home. He wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me as close to him as possible, and I reach up and thread my fingers into his hair. After a few minutes we pull away for some much needed air.

“You wanna get outta here?” Max asks, already backing out of the alley towards the parking lot, holding onto my hand.

I don’t say anything, but I definitely follow him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don’t let myself think about it. I don’t let myself think about the fact that I’m breaking my number one rule to myself: Never fall for Max Evans again...of course, my reasoning behind that was recently shattered and I’m slightly intoxicated...so...we’ll just let this one time slip by unnoticed, ok?

I follow Max across the parking lot, my fingers entwined with his, he’s practically dragging me...it would go a lot faster if he just picked me up and carried me...these shoes ain’t made for runnin!

Max lets go of my hand as we arrive at our transportation. I stop dead in my tracks, my mouth dropping open as I watch Max throw one of his legs over his motorcycle. “Oh my god...” I cover my mouth with my hand. “You still have Susie?”

Max blushes a little. “Yeah. I just...I couldn’t get rid of her...too many good memories.” He flashes me a secret smile before handing me a helmet. As much as I hate these things, and the havoc they reek on my hair, I put it on anyway, throwing my leg over the bike, moving up right behind Max and circling my arms around his waist, already holding on tight. “We aren’t even moving yet.” Max laughs at me as he puts his helmet on too.

“Maybe not, but I bet you’re still as crazy on this thing as you were before.” I point out. He glances back at me, simply winking before he starts up the bike and makes his way out of the parking lot.

The minute we hit the open road, it’s like going back in time. Back to when everything between Max and I was better than perfect...back when we used to sit in bed all day on Saturdays and eat junk food and watch stupid TV shows...back to when we used to go for a ride on the bike every Sunday afternoon no matter how cold it got up in New York.

We ride through Roswell, way over the speed limit, but also knowing there is no way there are any cops out this late...Roswell’s too small for all that.

We pull up to an apartment complex about five minutes later, and Max slows down, backing Susie into a parking space and shutting it off. I climb off the bike first, pulling the helmet off and trying to salvage my hair.

Max grabs the helmet from my hands, leading me towards an apartment directly across from where he parked. He fumbles with his keys for a minute before finally finding the right one, easing it into the lock and opening the door.

He lets me go in first, and then he steps in behind me, flipping on the light switch. I expected pizza boxes, dirty laundry, and mismatched furniture...isn’t that how guys normally live?? Max’s apartment is the polar opposite. The whole place is spotless, and he has a nice tan suede leather couch, love seat, and chaise lounge set. The coffee table, end tables, and entertainment center are all the exact same wood...totally not what I pictured.

“Isabel decorated it.” I whirl around, completely forgetting Max was standing right behind me. “She said even though she didn’t like me, she couldn’t stand knowing that I was doing the whole...bachelor pad thing.” Max shrugged. “You want something to drink?”

“Sure...what do you got?” I imagine that with the house lookin this good, the fridge has to be stocked too.

“Fully stocked bar, anything you want.” He replies, tossing his keys in a little ceramic bowl in the middle of the coffee table.

See? Told ya! “Ok...how about...a tequila shot?” I ask. My buzz has gone down and to stop myself from over-analyzing every little detail, as I tend to do, I’m gonna need something to boost the buzz back to where it was.

Max looks slightly surprised, but nods. “Follow me.” He leads me through the living room, down a hallway, and into the dining room/kitchen area. He unlocks a door, and walks out into an enclosed sunroom, which, as promised, has a fully stocked bar.

“How do you afford this place? Its amazing.” I’ve only seen part of the apartment, there was a staircase leading upstairs right when you come in the front door, which I’m assuming goes to the bedrooms...but this place is definitely better than our old apartment in New York. Max must be movin on up.

“Yeah, it is pretty nice,” Max admits, while pushing a shot glass full of Jose towards me and then reaching into the mini fridge for a lime. “My dad refuses to let me live at home, and my mom refuses to let me live in a dump...so my dad got stuck with the rent.” He licks his hand, shaking salt on it and passing me the saltshaker.

I laugh a little, but instead of pointing out the fact that we hardly lived in the Waldorf when we were together, I just lick my hand, shake some salt and pick up my shot glass.

Max makes eye contact with me before tapping his shot glass to mine. We simultaneously lick the salt, tap the shot glass on the bar top, down the tequila, and shove the lime in our mouths.

After we recover from the tequila, Max puts the shot glasses back behind the bar. “Would you like the tour?”

I nod, and he proceeds to lead me through the house, showing me where all the different rooms are. As we make it to the top of the stairs, he makes a left, showing me that it’s where the upstairs bathroom is located. He then takes me down the hall to the right and into his bedroom.

“Now, this is more like it.” I laugh as we walk into his room. It’s not a total hellhole...but there are quite a few pieces of clothes scattered here and there.

Max smiles as he glances over at me. Only then do I notice how close we really are. We’re standing right next to each other, shoulders almost touching. I don’t know how it happens, but suddenly we’re standing face to face and he’s leaning down and covering his lips with mine.

I reciprocate the kiss, opening my mouth to allow his probing tongue access. He runs his hands up the sides of my body, tangling them into my hair. “Mmm...” he makes a sound before pulling away from me. I look up at him slightly confused. “How drunk are you?” He asks.

I honestly think about it for a minute. “Drunk enough to know I wanna do this...drunk enough to where the details of tonight might be fuzzy tomorrow when I wake up, but not drunk enough that you should feel like you’re taking advantage of me.”

Max stares down at me for a minute, and then brings his lips back down on mine. Our hands explore the others body as our tongues plunge into the others mouth, exploring all the places forgotten in the time that we were apart.

I run my hands up Max’s chest, pushing his long sleeve shirt aside and down his shoulders until it puddles on the floor behind him. Max grabs onto the hem of my halter-top, swiftly bringing it over my head and tossing it on the floor before he expertly undoes the clasps on my bra, quickly tossing it aside and sucking onto the tender skin of my neck.

“I want you so bad.” He mumbles against my skin, causing me to shiver against him. He slides his arms around my waist, slowly lowering the zipper on the back of my pants.

He abandons nipping at my earlobe to look into my eyes and he slips my pants from my hips and lets them cascade onto the floor. I quickly discard my shoes and step out of my pants, leaving me in only my thong.

I look him up and down. “You’re way too overdressed.” I jerk his tank top over his head, and immediately go for getting his pants off as well. Right as I’m lowering the zipper, he kicks off his shoes, and steps out of his pants when they hit the floor.

We both stare at each other for a minute before he lifts me up against his chest, depositing me in the middle of his bed, urging my legs apart and crawling in between them, his face hovering inches above mine. “How do you want it?” He purrs, knowing exactly what to do to turn me on.

“Hard.” I whisper, flicking my tongue out and running it across his bottom lip. “Fast.” I rake my nails from his neck all the way down his back. “Now.” I snake my hand between us and take him in my hand, bringing forth a growl as he quickly reaches over to the nightstand and opens the drawer. He pulls out a condom before leaning back on his heels and hooks his fingers in the elastic of my underwear, tugging them down my legs. He quickly pulls his boxers off and settles back on the bed next to me.

He reaches over and grabs the condom, tearing into the foil wrapper, and tossing it behind him onto the floor. I watch as he quickly rolls the latex down his length and stretches out on top of me.

I spread my legs wide to accommodate his muscular body and I wait for him to do what is obviously supposed to be happening right now. But...I get nothing.

I look up into his eyes, “What?”

“You sure?” He asks, sprinkling kisses along my collarbone.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Please, Max, I need you now.”

Apparently all you need is the magic word because that’s all it takes. Max surges forward, completely filling me. He does as I ask…he gives it to me hard and fast.

“Oh god, baby...” He groans, burying his face in my hair.

“Yeah...Max...Oh, yeah...” I wrap my legs around his waist, urging him in deeper, and throwing my head back against the pillows at the amazing things this man does to me.

I can feel the end quickly approaching, and I raise my hips up to meet his every thrust. I dig my nails into his shoulders, screaming his name as my orgasm begins washing over me. My muscles contract around Max, pushing him over the edge with me.

After we both recover, Max runs to the bathroom and I slide under the blankets, snuggling down into the pillows. Just as I’m about to fall asleep, the bed shifts and Max slides into bed right behind me.

We both let out a long, content sigh and drift off to sleep.

TBC...

Posting this quite a bit early! Why, you ask?? Well.. because I just got home from the bar and I*m slightly drunk... I got people passed out on my bathroom floor.. and because I can! *LOL*

Also...


Best Author of An Unconventional Couple Fanfic(Summer Lovin)
Best Portrayl of a Dupe(Zan in Summer Lovin)
Best Dupe Fic(Summer Lovin)
Best Short Story(The Only One I Trust)

I know those have nothing to do with this fic, but I*m excited about em! *lol* So there they are!!! Thanks to everyone who nominated me, and thanks to anyone who voted for me...

Without futher adu... Your Feature Presentation...


Chapter Five

Ugh. I hate mornings!! I’m definitely not a morning person. If I could stay in bed all day I’d be the happiest kid in town. However, that never happens…I always have to get up.

Just a few more minutes, and then I’ll get up. I snuggle deeper into the bed, throwing the blankets over my head and yawning. I smack my lips, grimacing at the taste in my mouth. I definitely need to brush my teeth.

I take a deep breath and stretch, but freeze mid-stretch, taking another deep breath. This...doesn’t smell like my bed but I’m not brave enough to move the blankets back and look around.

I feel the other side of the bed shift suddenly, and then shift a few more times. I really don’t wanna pull back the covers, but curiosity takes over. I pull back the covers and come face to face with a large dog. I actually don’t think you can consider this thing a dog…it’s the size of a freakin horse!

I sit up, noticing for the first time that I’m naked, and look around the room. Oh Shit!!! The entire night before comes flooding back to me...the club, the drinks, the sex with Max...I cover my face with my hands and groan. Not long after, a wet tongue starts bathing my hands. I jerk away and look at the dog, who’s staring at me, and wagging its tail. “Stop, now. Shoo…” I say to it but it doesn’t look like it wants to move. “Fine.” I climb down the bed and begin the search for my clothing. “You just stay there, I’m leaving anyway.”

I find all my clothes and begin throwing them on, glancing over at that dog every now and then, which is lounging comfortably on the pillows. Was there a dog last night? I don’t remember a dog...and it’s hard to miss a dog that big…it probably weighs as much as I do. Just as I’m pulling my halter-top over my head, I notice that the shower is running...must be where Max is. Oh well, I just want out of here.

I make my way downstairs, finding my purse sitting on the kitchen counter. I reach in and find my phone, then pull it out and stare at the display screen. 12 missed calls. Oh god. I quickly check over all the missed calls. All of them are from three numbers...Maria, and two numbers I don’t recognize.

I quickly call Maria, needing to just get out of here. She answers on the second ring. “OHMIGOD! Liz! I was freaking out! Where the hell are you!? Where did you go?! Are you ok?!”

I take a deep breath, I wanna be mad at her, but I can’t. “I’m fine, I promise. I need you to do me a huge favor.”

“Oh yeah?” Maria sounds slightly pissed. I’ll have to deal with that later. “And what would that huge favor be?”

“I need you to come get me...please?” I’m begging, but I don’t care.

I hear nothing, knowing that she’s purposely waiting before giving me an answer, just so I sweat about it a little bit. “Fine, where are you?”

I hear keys jingling, and the sound of a door closing, she’s on her way. “I’m umm...” I clear my throat. “I’m at Max’s.”

I hear a crash, then Maria screaming curse words...but it sounds far away. Then she’s right back, screaming in my ear. “What?! You’re kidding right! You better be kidding! And you made me drop my fuckin phone!”

Oh, that’s what that noise was. “No, Maria. I’m not kidding. Look, I’ll tell you everything in excruciating detail once you pick me up. Please???”

“I’m on my way, I’ll try to hurry.” Is all I get before the other line goes dead. I throw my phone back in my purse…I’ll worry about the other calls later.

I hear the water upstairs cut off, signaling that Max is done with his shower. Damn it, I was hoping to get outta here before I ran into him...not that I wouldn’t just have to deal with it later but I’m a procrastinator. I’d rather deal with it later.

I climb back up the stairs, turning left towards the bathroom. I turn the knob and let myself in. It’s not like it’s anything I haven’t seen before. I walk in and look up at Max, who is dressed in a pair of jersey material black workout shorts, towel drying his hair.

I don’t say anything. Instead I just grab his toothbrush and toothpaste and start brushing my teeth. He doesn’t say anything at first, just goes on with his business like it’s nothing. I watch him through the mirror as he hangs his towel on the towel bar and moves behind me, dropping a kiss on my shoulder.

“Did you sleep ok?” He asks, circling his arms around my waist.

Umm...what the hell is he doing? I nod, spitting out the toothpaste and rinsing off the toothbrush, putting it back in the holder and moving to leave the bathroom. He pulls me back to him, craning his neck over my shoulder to look at me. “No good morning kiss?”

I maneuver out of his arms, walking towards the stairs. “Maria’s on her way to pick me up…I should go downstairs and wait for her.”

I feel his eyes on me as I start down the stairs, then I hear the sounds of him padding down the stairs behind me. “Wait a minute.” Reluctantly, I turn around and look at him…he looks so confused. “You’re just gonna leave?”

I sigh. “What did you expect, Max? That we’d just be back together now?” He crosses his arms over his chest, which is still naked...damn him for having such a nice body. “Well...we did have sex last night.”

“Yeah, we did. That doesn’t mean we’re back together. I don’t want to be back together with you. Last night was crazy, ok? Let’s just let it be what it was, and leave it alone.”

“That’s it? We’re just gonna forget about it?”

He’s gettin pissed. “Look. Last night...after you told me about Shannon and Scott, I thought that maybe...” I rub my hands down my face. “We’re just not gonna work, Max. We need to stop this. We need to stop pretending that we can have back what we had before.”

“What changed?” He grinds out. “Last night you were all about it, and now you’re being...like this. What happened?”

“Max, you were engaged! Ok, so you didn’t cheat on my in college like I thought you did. That just means that you’re not a total bastard like I thought you were...but you still got engaged to another woman. I can’t just forget that. I’m not gonna be a doormat here, Max.” I move across the room and grab my purse.

“I’m not asking you to be a doormat! Is it terrible that I want you back?!”

I drop my head back, slowly turning to face him. “It’s not terrible. No, but it’s not gonna happen.”

“Why?” He asks, but before I can respond, he rushes on. “I didn’t cheat on you in college. I was never interested in Shannon! That was all your imagination! As for Tess...yeah, I made a huge mistake by getting together with her and then getting engaged. But it never would have worked out, it couldn’t have worked out! I love you too much to love anyone else.”

“Then why did you ask her to marry you?!” He’s impossible!

“I don’t know” He drops down onto the couch, looking up at me. “Tess is a wonderful person, and I feel horrible for saying this but...she was just the rebound girl.”

My mouth moves, but no sound comes out. “H...Wh...” I clear my throat. “How could you string someone along like that? I mean, if you were just sleeping with her, that would have been one thing...but you asked her to marry you! You made her think that you loved her and wanted to be with her for the rest of your life! What organ is sitting in place of your heart?!”

“I screwed up, ok! I know that! I feel terrible for doing that to her! I just wanted to get over you! You were obviously over me, I just wanted the same thing!” He screams back.

“Do...do you use your brain? I mean, at all?! I’m still not over you! I’ll never be over you! You were my first love, Max! You never get over that! I was just trying to move on.”

“Yeah, with Steven.” He spits out.

“Can you just leave him out of this for once? Steven knows that we can’t be anything more than what we are...I never led him on. I never gave him the false hope that it could be something.”

“Does Steven know why?” He asks.

“What?” Where is the relevance in this?

“Does he know why you guys can never be more than just fuck buddies? Does he know that you’re still married to me?”

Fuck! “He knows that we were together for a long time and the break-up was really hard on me, and that I need time to do whatever I want.” I avoid the question of whether or not Steven knows we’re still married because of course he doesn’t…no one does.

“But he doesn’t know you’re still married, does he?” He doesn’t need to sound so smug about this.

“No one knows we’re married, Max…and before you go off trying to make me feel like I’m trash for not telling him...Tess didn’t know about me either.” I’m saved by the bell! Or at least by the car horn, meaning that Maria’s outside. “I gotta go.” I grab my purse and take a step towards the door, but I don’t make it. In two long strides, Max is standing in front of me. “What?!”

“You really want this to be over?” He asks. “Do you really want me to have those papers sent to you? I called my dad yesterday. He’s having his friend write them up this weekend. They’ll be done and you’ll be served with them on Monday…well…tomorrow, I guess...unless you tell me any different right now.”

“Have them sent to the Crashdown.” Is all I say before I step around Max and walk to the door, opening it, and walking outside. I close the door behind me never once looking back.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About three hours later I find myself shifting uncomfortably in my seat with three pairs of eyes trained on me. After I left Max’s apartment, I had Maria take me home so I could take a shower. That was only allowed with the promise that after I got done, I’d get ready and go out to lunch with Maria to divulge every little detail of last night.

Getting past my parents was hard. They asked me a million questions about where I was the night before. I told them that all of us girls had a little too much to drink and we took a cab back to Tess’s and crashed out there. After apologizing for five minutes for not calling them and letting them know where I was or what was going on, they finally let me go to my room for that much needed shower.

I called Maria after I was ready, and she came to pick me up...little did I know she was bringing Isabel and Tess with her. This story is gonna be hard enough to repeat to Max’s sister...let alone the woman he was engaged to. I promised Maria every detail and those details include things about Tess...so I really don’t wanna be doing this.

We drove to the nearest sushi bar...about 15 minutes outside Roswell, and are now sitting at the table, waiting for our food to arrive. Well, I’m waiting for our food to arrive, everyone else is waiting for me to start spilling my guts.

I take a long drink of my iced tea, setting it down on the table and clasping my hands in my lap. I do my damndest to avoid eye contact with any of them, procrastinating as much as possible.

“Ok, start talking.” Maria orders, crossing her arms on top of the table, giving me a ‘you promised’ look.

“I, umm...” I start, “I didn’t know that you two would be coming along.” I glance from Isabel to Tess, and then back to Isabel, speaking to her. “You know that I’m gonna be telling every detail of my night spent with your brother, right?”

Isabel nods. “As hard as I try to avoid hearing anything about my little brother’s sex life, I wanna know what happened.”

I nod slowly before shifting my gaze to Tess. “He umm...said some stuff that you’re probably not gonna like...stuff that could potentially hurt you.”

Tess remains silent for a minute before speaking. “I realize that he probably said some hurtful things about me, or that he was just plain rude regarding me, but I wanna know too. Don’t leave anything out to spare my feelings. He’s hurt me enough by what he did. Don’t worry about me…I’m a big girl.”

I take a deep breath and begin. I go through the events of the night before, telling them every little detail. I tell them about dancing at the club, arguing, then kissing in the alley, getting on Max’s motorcycle, and going back to his place. I tell them everything that led up to us ending up in bed together, and about me waking up, realizing what I’d done, and where I was. I pause to look up at them…I definitely have their attention. I forge on with the rest of the story, not leaving out any detail, even the things he said about Tess. I can’t make myself look up from the table as I say them…I feel like I should be apologizing to her, even thought it wasn’t me that said them.

I finish with telling them that I told Max I still want a divorce, and that I should be getting served with the papers sometime tomorrow at the Crashdown. Only after I’m finished with the whole story do I look up.

They have a range of emotions on their faces from anger, to shock, to confusion. “Wow...” Maria blurts out, and then opens her mouth to say more, but nothing else comes out.

I look over at Tess, who looks completely broken. I reach over, setting my hand on top of hers, giving it a small squeeze. “I’m so sorry.” I whisper to her. I honestly am sorry, I feel horrible for her. I should hate Tess with an intense burning passion. After all, she was engaged to my husband, but I can’t...she’s innocent in this. She didn’t ask for any of this crap that is my life. She thought she was getting lucky, getting one of the few good guys that still exist in the world, but she got Max. I wish so much that I could go back in time and change all of this, but I can’t.

She looks over at me, tears swimming in her amazing crystal blue eyes. “No, I’m ok.” She tries to sound convincing, but its contradicted by the fact that her voice cracks as she says it. She covers her face with her hands and groans. “God, I’m being stupid! This isn’t about me.”

“Hey.” I reach over, pulling her hands from her face. “Don’t even! You have ever right to be upset!”

“Its just...” she dabs at the corners of her eyes with her napkin, absorbing the tears before they trail down her cheeks. “Max needs to be an actor. He always made me feel so special...and if he didn’t care about me at all...I’d hate to see how suffocating he is if he actually likes you.”

We all sit in silence, rather uncomfortable silence, for a few minutes, none of us quite sure of what to say. Finally, I can’t take it anymore, the silence is deafening and it’s driving me crazy. “So, that’s a big dog Max has...” Oh god, that came out all wrong! Hopefully they knew what I meant.

“Yeah, that dog is huge.” Maria agrees, “Last time me and Michael went over there it got excited to see Michael and jumped up on him...knocked him flat on his ass.” She starts laughing hysterically. “Sorry, I just keep seeing it happen in my head.”

We all start laughing, it’s more that we’re laughing at her, not with her, but she doesn’t seem to mind. “I didn’t notice it last night...I’m not sure how I missed a dog that big...seems rather impossible.”

“Oh, I took Fluffy back to Max’s this morning...he was at my house, but since he’s Max’s dog...I took him back over there while I was returning his key and taking my house key off his key chain.” Tess explained just as our sushi arrives.

I break apart my chopsticks, mixing some soy sauce with a little wasabi to dip my sushi in, then stop. I look back at Tess “Wait a minute...that mammoth thing’s name is Fluffy?”

Tess giggles a little, and nods. “Yeah, Fluffy Flufferson.”

I start choking on my own spit. “Max named his dog Fluffy Flufferson?!”

“No, Max didn’t...” Tess takes a bite of sushi.

“You named it?” I ask, still recovering from the spit incident.

“Nope...” she looks over at Maria.

“Hey! I didn’t think Boner was an appropriate name for any dog! So I told Max that he could name the dog Boner, but I was gonna call him Fluffy Flufferson...and everyone thought that it was freakin hilarious and it just kinda caught on!!” Maria tries to defend herself.

“What kinda dog is that anyway? It has to weigh more than I do...and it’s a boy?! Named Fluffy Flufferson?! That’s almost as bad as Boner, Maria!” I can’t help laughing...this is probably not good lunch conversation. Lunch conversation shouldn’t have the word ‘Boner’ in it…no matter what.

“It’s a Bull Mastiff.” Tess explains. “And I wouldn’t doubt in the least that it weighs more than you do...and yup, Fluffy is a boy.” Tess shakes her head. “Max really hated you for that, ya know?” She looks over at Maria.

Maria just scoffs at her. “Pft, like I care.”

We give up on conversation of Max and his dog to enjoy a nice lunch together. We chitchat about different things, school and work, stuff like that.

I haven’t had girlfriends since I left Roswell…I forgot how nice it was. I’ve always been more of a guys-girl...I could always hang out and just be one of the guys, which Max absolutely loved. He could take me to all the high school parties with his friends, and I’d fit right in. Maria and Isabel have always been the only girls I’ve ever gotten along with. As stupid as this is, I hate girls. They’re catty, they’re bitchy...it’s just not worth the trouble to try to be friends with them.

Sounds dumb, right? No, actually, it’s not. Here...this is my logic, check it out...It’s easier to deal with guys who want to fuck you, than to deal with girls who want to fuck you over and then fuck your boyfriend. There’s a lot less hassle where guys are concerned. They’re non-complicated. With most of them, what you see is what you get, and the majority of the male species are about as deep as a puddle. I go for simplicity, I don’t like shit gettin all complicated...hence the reason why pretty much the only people on NYU campus that I hang out with are the Sigma boys. They’re not the brightest bunch of people…I think John helped prove that theory with the chandelier fiasco, but they’re fun.

We finish up lunch and head back into Roswell. We decide that since it’s Sunday, and there really isn’t anything to do, we’ll just hang out at the Crashdown. We pull up out front. Making our way inside and sitting down at a table in the middle of the café floor.

I ask them what they want to drink before getting up and walking behind the bar to get the drinks myself. That Mandy girl is working back there and takes one look at me and hauls ass in the other direction. I’m not that scary, am I?

Oh well, I couldn’t care less. I finish the drinks and take them back to the table. Just as I’m about to bring my glass to my lips, my dad suddenly rushes over to the table, babbling and pointing like an insane person. "Dad!" I finally say, and he stops. "Calm down. Breathe" After he does as I instructed, I ask him what the hell he was babbling about to begin with.

"Lizzie, I have a big problem! Traci didn't show up for work today and Angela just went home sick! I have one, yeah, that’ it! ONE waitress working right now!" Ah, yes, that Mandy bitch! “I need a huge favor from you," and then he looks over at Maria. "You too."

We both look at each other, knowing that he wants us to put on those tacky turquoise waitress uniforms with the silver trim and help wait tables. We both plaster a fake smile on and nod. "Yeah, Dad, we'll help."

"Oh thank God!" He grabs a hold of our hands and rushes us into the backroom, thrusting the Crashdown uniforms at us and leaves the room. Before we know it, Maria and me are decked out in the entire outfit...antennas and all.

We walk through the swinging door into the café, and Isabel and Tess almost fall out of their chairs laughing at us. I walk over to their table…they would happen to be in my section, and raise an eyebrow at them. “Problem, ladies?”

They put their hands over their mouths, trying to muffle their laughter. “No, no problem at all.” Isabel manages before she starts laughing again.

I look down at the outfit, and then back up at Isabel. “It’s not like you’ve never seen me in this outfit before...I did work here all through high school.” When her laughter doesn’t let up, I lean down and look her in the eyes. “And let’s not forget that I have a picture of you in this very outfit that week that Maria had strep throat.” Her laughter immediately stops as she clears her throat. “Thought so.”

My gloating is short lived when I hear Maria screeching at the top of her lungs. “What the fuck are you doing?!”

I whip around and see Mandy burst into tears and run into the backroom. I run over to Maria. “What the hell did you do?!”

Maria looks baffled. “She was standing there for like ten minutes doing nothing, and there are two tables waiting for service in her section, and then she said she was going on a break! I didn’t mean to make her cry!!”

“Go fix it!” I all but screech back at her. She nods and runs back into the break room. I hear the bell on the front door ding, another hungry bunch of people have just arrived. I don’t turn around to see where they go sit, I’m the only waitress here, either way I’m gonna have to wait on them. I quickly run into the break room and grab a fresh order pad out of the box.

I walk back through the door, writing my name on the top of the first sheet. I look down at it for a minute, looking at ‘Liz’ staring back at me in my own neat handwriting. It’s weird how unfamiliar my name looks. I sigh, glancing up quickly to locate the new table before making my way over.

I get there and glance up, the pleasant smile quickly falling off my face. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Max quickly looks up from the menu with wide eyes as I cross my arms over my chest, tapping my foot on the floor in annoyance. “I’m getting ready to eat something...you usually do that in a restaurant.”

“Whatever. What do you want to drink?” I look around the table, noticing for the first time that Max isn’t alone. Nope, Kyle Valenti, Alex Whitman, and Michael Guerin are there as well. My day can’t get any worse.

Michael gives me a death glare. “Four Cherry Cokes.” He grumbles out, then a beat later he tacks a “Now.” on the end of his statement.

I raise my eyebrows at him, before sticking my order pad in my apron and bracing my hands on the end of the table, lowering my face so that I’m eye level with him. “I recommend that the next time I come over to this table you either keep your mouth shut, or you attempt to be civil.” I glance down at my uniform. “This tacky outfit means that I provide the food, and unless you want to mysteriously contract Salmonella or food poisoning or whatever, you watch how you speak to me.” I straighten myself, smiling down at him. “Ok?”

He clenches his teeth, nodding slightly. I give him another smile before taking a step away, reaching into my apron and grabbing my order pad and slapping him in the back of the head with it before I walk behind the bar.

I shove the end of my pen in my mouth, chewing on it as I prepare their drinks. I check the impulse to spit in the drink, setting them on a tray, and walking back to the table. I set a drink down in front of each of them, throwing four straws in the middle of the table. I pluck my order pad from my apron and grab the pen out of my mouth, poising the pen over the paper. “What do you want to eat?” I look at Michael.

“I’m not hungry.” He says, taking a drink of his soda.

I smile slightly. “Smart move.” I look over at Alex. “Well?”

“Hamburger and fries.” He says. As I’m writing it down, Kyle informs me he wants the same, and Max orders a hamburger and onion rings. I finish writing it all down before glancing back up. “Anything else?”

They all shake their heads. Just as I’m about to walk away, the bell dings again, and I look up. I stumble back a step, holding onto the table to steady myself just as the group yells “Beth!”

I bring my hand up to my mouth. “Oh my God.” Max looks up at me slightly confused. “Steven...”

TBC...

Posting this just slightly early, ya*ll can thank Diana for that.. she*s bitchin at me about it! *lol*

Thank you for all the FB, I could go into a long thing about how the reaction to the last chapter was unexpected, but I won*t. *lol* Just remember, this fic isn*t gonna be a happy ending wrapped in a pretty bow on a silver platter... its gonna be slightly angsty, its gonna be hard on your dreamer hearts.. but I hope you stick around.. I*ll do my best to make it worth your while!

Ok, I*m shutting up now... I*ll be back next Wednesday with the next update... Enjoy!

Previously on All’s Fair In Love And War...

Just as I’m about to walk away, the bell dings again, and I look up. I stumble back a step, holding onto the table to steady myself just as the group yells “Beth ”

I bring my hand up to my mouth. “Oh my god.” Max looks up at me slightly confused. “Steven...”

Chapter Six

Holy shit This isn’t happening to me What the hell did I ever do to deserve shit like this? As soon as it registers to Max what I just said, he whips around, glaring at Steven, who is making his way over to me with a huge smile on his face.

Before I can even regain the ability to think, he puts his arms around my waist, picking me up and twirling me around before setting me on my feet and giving me a kiss. And, just for all of you who are paying close attention...yes, I’m still standing directly in front of Max’s booth.

Not far behind Steven are some of the frat guys. I get hugs and kisses on the cheek from all of them. “What are you guys doing here?” I finally get out.

“We’re on vaycay ” John supplies, smiling brightly at me.

“Roswell isn’t exactly party central for Spring Break. You guys should have gone to like...I dunno, Cancun or Florida or something.” I tell them, before catching sight of John’s cast. “Ohmigod Johnny You really did break your wrist trying to swing on the chandelier ”

He blushes, but nods. I start laughing at him before remembering where we’re standing. I glance down at Max, who has stream practically pouring out of his ears at this point. Steven looks down at the guys, giving them a head nod...I hate when guys do that. “What’s up?” He asks them, trying to be polite.

Before Max can say anything, I quickly speak up. “Oh, ok. Umm...boys, if you’d all follow me, please?” I start walking towards the break room, glancing behind me to make sure they’re still behind me. I push the door open, gesturing them in. After they’ve all filed in, I glance back at Max before disappearing through the door myself.

Maria and Mandy are currently sitting on the couch chatting. It looks like Mandy’s finally finished crying. Maria looks at the guys, apparently recognizing Steven because her eyes get really big. “Liz, what’s goin on?”

I have no fucking idea what’s going on My world just collapsed around me in a matter of about two minutes I take a deep breath. “I need to talk to the guys for a minute, and since I was the only one running the place while you two were back here, I need you both out there now.” Mandy stands up, hurrying past me and out the door. I’m not scary Geez I grab hold of Maria’s arm just as she’s about to pass me. “Here.” I tear off the top sheet of my order pad, handing it to her. “Can you turn this in? When the cook gets done, it goes to Alex, Kyle and Max. Michael didn’t order food because I threatened him with food poisoning.”

Maria looks down at the ticket, then back at me. “Umm...Ok. I’ll be out there if you need me, ok?” I nod and she gives me a quick hug before running back into the diner.

Great, now I have to face the guys. I turn back to them, giving them a small smile. Here comes the hard part...I have to tell them everything. Everything I’ve been trying to keep from them, everything I’ve been running from...I have to face, right here, and right now. This is gonna suck “Can you guys sit down? We need to have a talk.” They all start to sit down, and then something dawns on me. “Wait a minute...how did you even know I was here?”

“You’ve mentioned a few times that your dad owned a restaurant in Roswell named The Crashdown...it wasn’t too hard to find after that.” Brad informs me. Well, hell. That’s an easy enough answer.

“Ok. We really need to talk guys.” I say seriously. I want to get this out as soon as I can.

“Are you breaking up with us?” Matt asks, sounding hurt. All the guys laugh, but quickly stop when they notice that I didn’t even crack a smile. “Sorry.” He apologizes, looking slightly embarrassed.

I take a deep breath, not quite sure how to start this whole conversation. “You guys have been absolutely wonderful to me. You’ve accepted me for who I am, and when I wanted to keep most of my past private, you guys never pushed me...and I’ve never said thank you. Having you guys here is something that I never, ever thought would happen...cause I honestly never expected to be here again. However...now that we’re all here...there are parts of my past that I have to tell you about. It’s not that I want to, because I’ll honestly tell you that I’d rather you not know, but I’d rather tell you guys myself before you hear it from someone else.”

I look up at all of them. They all look slightly confused, but John speaks up. “Ok. Then tell us all about Beth Parker.”

Wow...they don’t even know my real name. This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought, but I have to get it out. If I leave anything out, they’re gonna walk back into the diner and come face-to-face with it. Even thought I don’t want to tell them...I forge on anyway. “I guess the best place to start would be my name.”

“Wait.” Steven holds up one hand. “You lied to us about your name?”

“I didn’t lie. I am Elizabeth Parker, I just...left out a few details.” They look more confused than ever. “Just let me get everything out before you ask any questions, ok?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Brad says, giving me a reassuring smile.

“My name is Elizabeth Parker-Evans.” I settle my eyes on Steven before I go on. “When I was in high school, I fell in love with this guy, you’ve probably heard a little something about him... Max.” They nod. “All you know is that his names Max. What you don’t know is that his name is Max Evans.” What I’m trying to get across hits them, and in unison, all mouths drop open. I swallow past the lump of fear in my throat and go on with my speech. “Right after we graduated, Max and I got married. We went to NYU together, and we had a little apartment off campus. I saw him at a coffee shop one night with another girl, so I shut him out. Eventually we grew apart and at the end of his sophomore year, Max left NYU and came back to Roswell. I hadn’t heard anything about him until the other night. My friend Maria called me at two AM to tell me that Max was engaged. So I hopped on the first plane home, and as soon as I could, I asked Max for a divorce. His fiancé broke up with him, because she knew nothing about me, and now me and her are actually becoming good friends. I’m supposed to be served with the papers tomorrow morning” I wring my hands, scared about how they might react. I take a deep breath. “I’m so sorry I lied to you guys.”

“So...you’re still married?” Steven asks.

Before I can say anything, my dad comes down the stairs from the apartment, reading a stack of papers. “Not for long. That good-for-nothing bastard is history.” He mumbles, and then looks up. He looks around at all the guys before looking at me. He walks over, putting a protective arm around my shoulder “Lizzie, what’s going on?”

I smile up at him “Daddy, these are some of my friends from NYU.” I point at them, rambling off their names. “Guys, this is my Daddy, Jeff Parker.”

Steven stands up, walking over to my dad, and putting out his hand. “Mr. Parker, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Steven.”

My dad looks at Steven for a minute before shaking his hand. “It’s nice to meet you too, Steven. How do you know my Lizzie?”

Oh geez. I’m scared about what Steven’s gonna say in reply. I doubt it’s in the best interest of Steven’s health to say something along of the lines of ‘Well, I’m screwing your daughter, no strings attached, of course.’

Steven surprises me by smiling down at me. “I’ve been dating your daughter for a few months now, Sir.”

That does nothing to stamp out my dad’s suspicion of Steven, though. My dad looks him dead in the eyes before saying. “If you turn out to be as useless and stupid as that husband of hers, or you hurt her in any way...” he stops for a second, leaning closer to Steven. “I’ll kill you.”

My mouth drops open. “Daddy ”

Steven just laughs. “I understand your concern, Mr. Parker. I have three younger sisters whom I’m very protective over. You have nothing to worry about, Sir. I wouldn’t dream of hurting her.”
Ya know, a girl can only take so many surprises in one day before she feels like she’s gonna explode. I’ve definitely reached my limit Nothing else surprising better happen, or it’s all over for me, people

My dad claps Steven on the back. “Good man.” And the surprises just keep on coming “Why don’t we all go into the diner and have a bite to eat and get to know each other better?”

The boys all agree, not that there was ever any doubt that they would...it’s like, against their religion to say no to food. I watch them all file into the diner, amazingly, my dad still has his arm around Steven’s shoulder.

As soon as they’ve all gone into the café, I drop down onto the couch, still not quite sure if what just happened really happened, or I’m just plain going crazy. The crazy thing is looking more and more possible by the second.

Maria comes flying through the swinging door in a flash of turquoise material and blonde hair. “What are you doing? ” She yells at me. Once Hurricane DuLuca has downgraded itself to Tropical Storm Maria, I almost giggle out loud thinking back to when Alex and me started saying that. Maria hated us for it, but we thought it was the funniest thing we’d ever thought of.

I miss Alex, I really do. We used to be best friends...just him, Maria and me. The Three Musketeers. Once Max and I started dating, Alex started hanging out with the guys more and more, and hanging out with Maria and I less and less. I won’t lie and say it doesn’t hurt...because it really, really does.

“LIZ ” Maria screeches, practically throwing me off the couch.

“What? Jesus Did you really need to push me that hard? ” I ask, still trying to get myself properly situated on the couch.

“What the hell were you daydreaming about just now? I was talking to you for like twenty minutes and you were lost in translation or whatever Pay attention There is serious shit goin down out there right now and you aren’t listening to me ” She rushes out in one long sentence.

“What serious shit is going down?” I ask, ignoring the rest of her rampage.

“Umm, HELLO Max is still out there ” As soon as that statement is out of her mouth, I hear things shatter and a bunch of yelling.

“Oh, shit ” I jump up off the couch, hauling ass into the diner.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The diner is completely empty, save me, my parents, Maria, Tess, Isabel, Max, his parents, Michael, Alex, Kyle, John, Steven, Brad and Matt.

When I came out of the back room, there was a knockdown, drag-out brawl going on between the Sigma guys, and the Roswell boys. It took us a good five minutes to get them broken apart and on opposite sides of the restaurant. Isabel had, for whatever reason, called her parents, and I felt the temperature drop quite a bit when Diane Evans entered the Crashdown. My dad had to quickly usher the customers out the front door, taking down names and promising free lunch whenever they came back.

Max, his parents, Alex, Kyle, and Michael are currently residing in two booths on one side of the room, while I’m sitting at the counter with my parents and Steven, Brad, Matt and John. Maria, Isabel and Tess are staying neutral, in the literal sense. They’re seated at a table between all of us.

We’ve all been sitting here for about ten minutes. No one’s said anything, but everyone is glaring at someone on the other side of the restaurant, most of the boys holding an ice pack over some part of their face.

I look over and meet Max’s gaze. His amber eyes burn into mine, even though one of them is partially swollen shut. I can’t stomp down the feeling of giddiness that swells up knowing that Steven is the one that did that to Max’s face.

I know I’ve let the giddiness go too far when Max removes the ice pack from his lip and sneers at me. “What the fuck are you smiling about?”

Steven immediately jumps from his seat next to me, taking a step towards Max. “Don’t talk to her like that ”

“You mind your own damn business ” Max yells back, standing up.

“Don’t let him talk to you like that, Steve ” My dad encourages from behind the counter.

“Jeffery ” My mom scolds.

My head is gonna explode Honestly, if anyone else has to put up with shit like this, drop me an email, because this is ridiculous

“Lizzie, do something ” Maria prompts.

I’ve officially lost my grip on the last shred of sanity I had. I’m telling you all right now…I’m not to be held accountable for whatever is about to happen

I jump up from my seat at the counter and stalk over to where Max and Steven are inches apart. I squeeze in between them, shoving Steven backwards as hard as I can before spinning around and doing the exact same thing to Max.

“Stop being so fuckin testosterone-y ” I yell at them, looking back and forth between the two of them who are flat on their asses a few feet from where they were standing.

From his seat in the booth next to Kyle, Alex suddenly chimes in with “The San Francisco treat.”

It takes me a minute to get it, then I realize he’s goin back to those Rice-a-Roni commercials. That would explain why he sang his two cents instead of just saying it like a normal person. You can hear quite a few of those present loose the battle to keep their laughter in check.

“What’s your problem?” Max asks, climbing to his feet.

My jaw drops so far that I think it actually became unhinged. “Are you fucking kidding me? ” I hear my dad saying something about me watching my language, but I can’t make myself give a shit right now, I’m going the fuck off on Max. “What’s MY problem? You come in here, even after you know that I’m here, and then, when Steven gets here, you start a fight with him All that in light of the fact that we’re getting divorced, and you want to know what MY problem is? ? ”

“YES ” He bellows back at me. Can you believe this guy?

“Are you kidding me? ” I squeal back at such a high pitch that most of the people in the room actually flinch. I continue to rant on in that same tone for about thirty seconds before Maria slaps her hand over my mouth.

“Sweetie, only dogs can understand you...take it down about thirty-eight notches, then try again.” She advises. I shoot a glare her direction that makes her return back to the table without anything further to say.

I glance back at Max. “You seriously don’t understand why I’m mad?” I ask in a cooler tone. He shakes his head, making me scream through gritted teeth and want to rip my hair out. “Are you kidding me? Are you really this stupid? Because if you are, you definitely shoulda been riding on the short bus ”

“Don’t you talk to him like that.” Diane speaks up for the first time, not bothering to conceal her disdain for me.

I’ve had enough of this woman. “Oh, why don’t you just, for once, shut the fuck up and mind your own damn business? ”

An audible gasp sounds in the room, even the Sigma guys look surprised. Everyone’s on the edge of their seat, I swear, I live in a goddamn soap opera

“Excuse me?” She asks, standing up.

“I don’t believe I stuttered ” I volley back. I’m on a roll, people. I think the bitch-switch has permanently been flipped. “I told you to shut up and mind your own business. Why the fuck are you even here? Max is a big boy He doesn’t need his Mommy babysitting him twenty-four-seven I doubt that it’s a big secret that we dislike each other. So why bother coming out here? To make sure that all those times you told me I was fucking up your son’s life sunk in?” To say that Diane is shocked by my outburst would be an understatement. I can’t make myself feel bad for yelling at her. I’ve had pent up anger towards this woman for as long as Max and I were together, and I’m certainly not done telling her. I feel hot tears sting my eyes as I continue on. “What did I ever do to you? I was nothing but overly polite and considerate of you the entire time Max and I were together, and you took every opportunity that passed to make sure I knew that I wasn’t good enough for Max. Do you know what that does to a sixteen-year-old girl ? I’m forever worried that I’m never gonna be good enough. That no matter how hard I try...I just won’t be enough.” I reach up and wipe the tears from my face. I look at her for a long moment before I just shake my head. “Forget it.”

I turn around and walk back to my seat at the counter, plopping down, and grabbing my drink. I look down, scowling at the fact that I finally got the chance to get some of that off my chest...all the while wearing this ridiculous outfit. I reach up and pull the headband off, dropping it on the counter.

Everyone is totally silent in the wake of my outburst, until the bell above the door rings. We all turn to regard the guy that just walked in. He pulls his sunglasses off before looking at all of us.

“I’m sorry, but we’re closed. Come back around dinner time.” My dad says as the man walks a little further into the café.

“I’m looking for Elizabeth Evans.” He says, completely ignoring everything my dad has just said to him.

Everyone looks at me, before I take a step forward. “Can I help you with something?”

“Are you Elizabeth Evans?” He asks. I simply nod, taking a step back. The way he’s looking at me is creeping me out. “Alright then,” he pulls a large manila folder out of thin air, well, not really, he had it behind his back, but he thrusts it at me just the same. “You are hereby served with divorce papers.”

It takes me a minute to realize that I’m supposed to actually grab onto those papers, but I finally get my act together and take the envelope from him. He starts to turn and walk away. “Wait ” I call after him. “If you’ll just wait one minute, I’ll sign them and you can just take them back with you...whoever the fuck you are.”

I quickly glance over at Max, who’s watching me with uncertain eyes. I walk back to the counter and pull the papers from their envelope, understanding none of the legal mumbo-jumbo written on the pages. I push them in front of Steven. “Will you look them over for me?” He looks up, surprised that I would ask him to do that. “Please? I don’t understand all that.”

“Are you sure that’s a smart decision, Lizzie? What does he know about this?” My dad chimes in, and looks over at Steven. “No offense, Steve.”

I don’t know why the hell my dad is so invested in calling Steven ‘Steve’...but I don’t like it. Steven doesn’t appear phased. “Actually, my father is a lawyer, and I’m studying to become one as well, Sir. If you’d rather me not, then I won’t...but I will understand this better than Liz.”

My dad nods Steven to go ahead, and for the next few minutes, we all sit in awkward silence as Steven pours over the papers. Wasn’t he supposed to serve me with the papers tomorrow?? Oh well, I’m not worried about it. After this morning at his apartment, Max probably insisted that things were sped up or something. I twirl my rings around my fingers, looking over at Max, who is sitting in the booth, twirling his ring around his finger.

He looks up and catches my gaze. There are so many emotions flashing through his eyes right now, none of them the ones I expected. I actually didn’t know what to expect. Max looks...sad, upset, disappointed, hurt, angry...things totally uncharacteristic of Max Evans.

“Ok.” Steven breaks the silence, and I look away from Max and back toward Steven. “Everything looks good. All you have to do is sign the dotted line, and you’re a free woman.”

I smile at Steven, a smile which doesn’t quite feel genuine before I take the pen off the counter, and poise it over the dotted line where I’m supposed to write my name. I hesitate for a moment, taking a deep breathe before I put the tip of the pen to the unmarred white paper. Just as I’m about to sign my John Hancock, the pen is taken out of my hand. I look over my shoulder to see Max standing there, holding onto the pen that I should have just finished writing my name with.

He looks down at me for a second before he leans over me, signing his name on the line right above the one I was supposed to sign. After he’s done, he sets the pen back on the papers and walks back to his booth.

I sit there for a second, staring down at Max’s name. I make no move to grab the pen or sign my name, I just sit and stare. I glance up at my parents, who only give me a supportive smile. I give them a small, half-smile before turning around and locking eyes with Maria. She gives me that huge DeLuca smile before mouthing to me, ‘Follow your heart, no matter what.’ I sit for a minute and listen to my heart, which is actually having a big fight with itself, so its no help. I mouth a ‘Thank You’ back to her before turning to Steven. I take a deep breath before snatching the pen off the counter and signing my name.

Once I’m done, I sit back in my seat and Steven puts the papers back in the folder and hands them back to the guy that brought them in. He nods in farewell before walking back out the door.

Everything takes on a slight dream-like quality after that. My parents rush around the counter and pull me into a hug, followed by Maria and Tess. Steven gives me a kiss... and none of it feels real.

My mom takes my right hand in hers, and my dad puts his arm around my shoulders on the other side of me. I hear him invite the boys up to the apartment, and I feel myself moving towards the swinging door. I look over at Max who just shakes his head before getting up and moving towards the front door to leave. His side of the Crashdown goes to follow him out the front door, while my side moves to go upstairs. The girls ultimately choose my side and fall into step, chatting with the frat boys.
I don’t let myself look back until I hear the bell over the front door chime. “Max, wait ” I yell, breaking away from my parents and making my way through the small crowd that’s going to, apparently, be hanging out upstairs with me soon.

I walk over to Max, who is flanked by his parents. I look into his eyes for a minute but say nothing. I nibble on the inside of my lip slightly as I reach out and grab his wrist. I make him hold his hand out in front of him, palm up, before I slip my engagement ring and wedding band off my finger and place it in the middle of his palm. I close his fingers around the rings and then look back up at him.

“Goodbye, Max Evans.” I whisper before I turn around and walk back the way I came.

I walk through the back room and start climbing the stairs into my parents house. I finally accomplished what I came here for, I’m a free woman...

So why don’t I feel good about it?

TBC...

Hola... back with the next chapter... I just wanted to let you guys know its gonna be quite a wait for the next chapter... when I tried to attach it in an email and send it to my beta.. it didn*t work.. so I have to wait til I*m back in GA to get the chapter off my hard drive.. and since I*ll be in Illinois until the 2nd of January... thats about the time the next part will be posted!

Just wanted to say a little Hello to all my new readers!!! Hope you guys enjoy the ride... its gonna get crazy! Lemme just say that right now!!! Also, all the questions that have been asked... the answers will appear sooner or later, I promise! Have a little faith, I*m not gonna totally screw this up!

Ok, I*m shutting up! This part is a little short, and I expect lots and lots of FB because I*m sure after this part, you*ll have it out for me... but I don*t care. If you don*t like my fic, my characters, or my storylines... go somewhere else!

Now... Heres the next part! Merry Christmas(or whatever you celebrate) and Happy New Year!!!

Chapter Seven

Two Months, Twelve Days.

That’s exactly how long I’ve been divorced.

Not that I’m obsessing about this, really, I’m not...but if you wanted to know the hours, minutes and seconds, and you want to give me about five minutes, I could work that out for you.

After Max and I signed the divorce papers on Sunday, I took the first plane back on Monday morning. The boys continued on with their Spring Break plans, heading down to Cancun from New Mexico.

It was really hard to have to say goodbye to my parents, Maria, and Isabel after finally mending the fences and becoming civil again, but I promised to come back as much as possible...I was actually forced to promise, otherwise I never would have been let on a plane out of there. Tess and I exchanged phone numbers and we talk about twice a week now. She’s totally moved on from Max, and takes every possible opportunity to endlessly thank me for stopping her from marrying him.

I haven’t seen or heard from Max since that day. There’s an unspoken agreement that no one brings up Max when they’re talking to me and in return…I don’t ask about him. It’s working out fairly well for all of us so far.

So...what’s new with me, you ask? Oh, tons. No, really, there is! You’ve missed lots and lots of excitement.

Ok, I’m being sarcastic. My life has been sorely lacking in things of excitement or importance.

Ok, I’m kidding again. This is a fun game. Wanna see how much longer we can keep doing this? No? Damn, I was having a good time.

I’m stalling and I know it. Big, huge, life-altering crazy things are going down and I’m taking my dear, sweet time telling you...like that’s gonna make the things go away. It won’t, but one can honestly hope, right?

This is getting rather ridiculous, how about I just stop and actually tell you what’s happening? Sound good? Great!

Well...let’s see...I’m not stalling this time! Merely looking for a good place to start. Oh, we can start with the fact that I moved. My lease was about to be up and instead of paying the ridiculous cost of rent to live in a tiny little apartment that I absolutely hate...I’m now living at the Sigma house.

Yes, you heard me right, I moved into the frat house. I am officially the only woman to have ever lived there, neat, huh? I’m a trailblazer, what can I say? The boys helped me move all of my stuff into the attic, which, before you scrunch your nose up at that, is actually an amazing space. All that we had to do was move all the boxes of miscellaneous bullshit to a storage locker, clean and paint it...and it’s pretty much its own apartment...the elevator goes up there and everything, so it’s not like I need one of those stupid wooden ladders to get up there.

Now you’re probably thinking it’s ridiculous for a frat house to have an elevator, which it kinda is, but...it’s there, what can you do? You can’t just get rid of an elevator. The boys love it because it effectively cuts off the need to stumble up, and possible tumble down, stairs while being drunk, and the boys are pretty lazy. They love anything that cuts corners so they don’t have to make an effort. Besides, only the richest males at NYU are inducted into Sigma Kappa Gamma. You have to have a father that donates massive amounts of cash to the university and they have to be doctors, or lawyers, or have some job that involves running the US Government...but, wow...we got way off-topic, didn’t we?

So...I’m living in the Sigma house, which the boys actually love. Sunday has become designated cleaning day and now they actually have clean silverware and boxers. They love me!

What else? Oh, I finished my 3rd year of college too! How proud are you of me? I can practically see the happiness just radiating from here. It was slightly difficult to cram for all my finals when all the guys wanted to do was be loud, drink beer, have parties, and play pool, but somehow I managed to get them to be quiet for awhile. Not only did I pass all my finals...I got almost all A’s. Except for that B in psych class, but that’s cool, I don’t wanna be a psychologist anyway. I have enough problems without having to listen to other people complain about theirs. Plus, I’m way too bitchy to be sympathetic to others...definitely not a profession I should look into.

I know it probably seems a little ridiculous to have moved into a frat house right before the school year ended, but most of the boys stay there anyway, for one reason or another. Big house, no parents...hard to turn down something like that. The head people at the university frown upon it, but the fathers of those in Sigma make sure the boys aren’t hassled about staying around if they want to.

Speaking of Sigma boys, I bet you’re all waiting with bated breath to find out what’s happening between Steven and I. In a nutshell...nothing. After Steven got back from his week in Cancun, before there was even any talk of me moving into the frat house, I sat him down and told him that Max and I had slept together the night before he showed up in Roswell. He was pissed off for a good two weeks. Wouldn’t talk to me or return my calls, but I explained some extenuating circumstances and he immediately stopped being pissed off at me, and became concerned...hence me moving into the frat house. He’d already decided that we needed to cool it off, and just be friends, insisting that I needed time to get over Max and let the ink on my divorce papers dry. So far, that’s all we are...just friends. Despite that fact that we live in the same house…but once again, extenuating circumstances.

I know I’m being slightly cryptic, and I know it’s probably driving you insane, but I have good reason, and that good reason is leaving me slightly stressed right about now.

Its eight PM and what am I doing? Sitting in the airport waiting for Maria’s plane to unboard. I called her as soon as I could this morning, bawling my eyes out. She started freaking out, asking me what was wrong, and the only thing I could get out of my mouth was that I needed her. She asked how long I needed her to stay here, and that she was already packing a bag. All I could tell her was not to plan on going back to Roswell anytime in the near future, so I’m actually scared to see how much crap we’re going to have to drag to my car...Maria packs three bags for a weekend trip, this could get messy.

I should have let Johnny drive me to the airport. He offered because he thought that there would be more room in the back of his Explorer than in my Grand Am, but I said that we’d be fine, which, we probably will be...it just would have been nice to not be sitting here waiting for Maria all by myself.

I don’t realize how worked up I am over this whole thing, or how hard I’m bouncing my leg, until a woman two seats over asks me to stop because I’m shaking the whole row of seats. I mumble an apology before making a conscious effort not to do that anymore. I start chewing on the straw from what’s left of my ice water from earlier.

The butterflies in my stomach feel like they’re trying to hammer their way out as people begin to file off the plane. I stand up just as Maria burst through the doorway, instantly spotting me and running over anyone stupid enough to get in front of her. Before I can say anything she has her arms around me.

“Are you ok?! I’ve never heard you like you were on the phone earlier! What’s going on?” Maria pulls back and looks me over for injuries. “You look fine. What the fuck is going on?!”

“I promise I’ll tell you everything...once we’re not standing in the middle of an airport terminal.” She looks slightly pissed that I’m making her wait any longer for an explanation, but she seems satisfied at the moment.

We walk down to baggage claim and pick up the four bags Maria brought with her, not to mention her huge purse and tote bag that she used as her carry-on items. We somehow manage to get them all out to my car and stuffed in the trunk and back seat before we make our way out of the airport. We make small talk, even though she’s trying to discreetly prod me for information about why I called her to come to New York, and I’m trying to avoid anything that could lead into talking about it.

I decide to take her to The Grind for a coffee. Yes, that would be the exact same coffee shop I saw Max and Shannon in. Even after I saw them and before I knew the truth…I couldn’t stay away from that place. Even though it hurt to know Max had been there with another girl or so I thought at the time. The place is absolutely gorgeous, and has some of the best coffee and desserts I’ve ever had.

We pull up along the curb in front of it…it’s pretty dead for a Wednesday night. Not that I mind, won’t have to fight for a parking spot or place to sit inside. I shut off the engine and look over at Maria, pointing to where we’re going.

“That’s it?” She asks, looking at me, then back at The Grind. “You called me and got me all the way on the other side of the country to take me to a church? Are you freakin insane?”

“Maria, it’s not a church anymore.” I unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car, leaving her no choice but to follow me, or brave New York by herself. She chooses to follow me, like I knew she would. This neighborhood isn’t dangerous or anything, she’s just really paranoid. “The people that own it, Mary Ann and Patrick, they fell in love with the church, which had been abandoned for awhile, so they renovated it and turned it into a coffee shop. You’re gonna die when you see the inside, it’s beautiful! Oh, and once you have a Crème Puff...I swear you’ll want to marry them! Mary Ann makes all her desserts from scratch.”

Maria shoots me a sideways glance. “What? Do you live here or something?”

I blush slightly. I never realized that I knew so much about this coffee shop. “No, not really. I just love it here. It’s so peaceful and serine inside...all your troubles just...disappear. Consequently, I do spend a lot of time here, and I do, on occasion, have chats with Mary Ann.”

I open the front door and lead Maria inside. A smile instantly appears on my face as I look around the old church. I hear a small gasp come from Maria, but I’m not surprised. The Grind isn’t a huge place. It’s actually pretty small, but it’s breathtaking. Wooden beams hold up wooden trellises over all the tables, and faux ivy and shimmering white Christmas lights entwine through the trellises. Small oil lanterns sit in the center of every table, and soft instrumental music flows from the speakers located all around the church.

Maria is taking it all in, and looking as though she has no intention of ever moving. So I grab hold of her arm and lead her to the opposite side of the coffee shop, to where a couch is sitting in front of a fireplace- my favorite place in the world.

We sit down and get comfortable, and I wait until after we’ve ordered and I’ve downed a good amount of my Café Vanilla Iced Latte with whipped crème before I turn to look at Maria, who is slowly sipping on her Irish coffee. She notices me looking at her, and turns her attention to me.

“You ready to spill, sister?” She asks, taking another sip of her Irish coffee. “This thing is awesome!”

“Yeah, they are really good.” I absently comment, trying to collect all my thoughts. “Maria...” I start just as Tina brings over two Crème Puffs. She gives us a smile before she walks away. I know once Maria bites into that thing, there’s no way she’s gonna shut up about how amazing it is until sometime next year, but before I can stop her to tell her why she’s even in New York in the first place, she takes a bite.

“Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the camel! These are better than sex!” Maria practically screams, making the few people there turn and look at us before they all start cracking up.

“Nicely done, Ria. I’m sure Mary Ann’s gonna be teasing me about that for a long time to come.” I can’t not laugh though, you gotta admit, that was freakin hilarious! Leave it to Maria to shout something as ridiculous as that. Oh geez, I better get her before she takes another bite of that damn Crème Puff. “Maria, can you put that down please?” She does as instructed, and then licks the powdered sugar off her fingers before grabbing her coffee and turning to face me on the couch.

“Ok. I’m gonna go ahead and tell you now why I called you yesterday, and it’s gonna freak you out, and even though it’s you...you’re gonna need a few minutes to recover. So after I tell you, just take your time…process it all...speak whenever you regain the ability. Just avoid saying anything like you did a minute ago, Ok?”

“Ok, Lizzie, you’re scaring me...what’s going on?” I can hear her voice shake a little. Damn, I didn’t mean to scare her! Just trying to prepare her!

“Ok...Maria?” I look into her eyes before I take a deep breath and blurt out “I’m pregnant.”

TBC...

(I know, I*m evil! *lol* See you next year!!!!)

Hola! Happy 2005! I know, its been forever and a minute since I*ve posted, but its only because my computer sucked and wouldn*t attatch the file when I tried to send it to Melyssa... whatever, here it is.. Enjoy!

Chapter 8

I sit, filing down my nails and tapping my foot in time with the music. I glance over at Maria from time to time to see if she’s recovered yet, but apparently not. I’ll give her two more minutes before I insist she say something.

“Should you be drinking coffee?” She suddenly says, looking over at me.

“Should I be drinking coffee?” I parrot, looking at her like she has four heads. “I tell you I’m pregnant... you sit there for a good five minutes without saying anything and that is the first thing out of your mouth?”

“Hey, you told me to take my time and process it all! I did! Now I wanna know, should you be drinking coffee?” She insists.

I sigh. “This is the first caffeine I’ve had all day, it’ll be fine.” I look down at my hands which are clasped together in my lap. “You don’t have anything else to say?”

“Congratulations!” She yells, throwing herself across the couch and into my arms. “I’m gonna be an auntie! Oh my God!”

I’m slightly surprised, but I can’t stop myself from smiling and hugging her back. “Thank you.”

She pulls back and looks at me. “So, dish!” She bounces on the couch and situates herself sitting indian style facing me. “When did you find out? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Who all knows about this? What are you gonna do? Are you gonna stay here? Are you going back to Roswell?” She fires off questions one after the other.

I hold up my hands in surrender. “Whoa, whoa! One at a time, please!”

“Leave out nothing!” She points at me accusingly. “When did you find out?”

“About three weeks after I left Roswell.” I explain. “I was a week late so I went to the store and bought a test, peed on the stick, and it showed me two little pink lines...”

“Meaning you’re pregnant?” Maria asks.

“No, meaning I just made the cheerleading squad!” I reply sarcastically. “Yes, meaning I’m pregnant, C’mon Maria!”

“You tried out for the cheerleading squad?” She asks, brows drawn together in total confusion.

Oh. My. God. And she’s totally serious, too! “Maria, think over the conversation we just had. Where did you go wrong?”

“Sorry. I’m just really excited, and not thinking properly.” Maria blushes slightly. “Have you gone to the doctor?”

“Yeah.” I nod, picking up my latte and taking a sip. “I went about three days later, that was the soonest I could get an appointment, and they confirmed. I’m 100%, without a doubt, knocked up.”

“Knocked up? How poetic.” Maria quips, before going back to her interrogation. “Are you gonna stay here or are you planning to move back to Roswell?”

“Move. As much as I love it up here, and as much as this really does feel like home to me now, I can’t stay here and have this baby. I want to be closer to my parents, to you and Isabel, and the other side of the country is definitely not close.” I set my coffee down and grab one of her hands. “That’s the reason I called you all the way here instead of just telling you over the phone. You’re my best friend, Maria. I need you to be here with me because as excited as I am, and as much as I could never, not even for a nanosecond, regret that I got pregnant... I can’t do this alone.”

“Aww, honey.” Maria grabs a throw pillow from the side of the couch, setting it in her lap and patting it. I lay on my back, so that I’m still looking up at Maria as she starts playing with my hair. “You also need someone to help you move and get back to Roswell, right?” She asks, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

I laugh, then let out a dramatic sigh. “You know me too well.”

“So, when are we gonna do all this moving madness?” She asks, finishing off her Irish coffee.

“As soon as possible. I need you to help me pack everything up in boxes and stuff. My parents already hired a moving company to drive one of those big trucks for my bed and furniture and stuff. They don’t trust either of us with a vehicle that big, and then we’ll be going back in my car.” I look back up and lock eyes with her. “You don’t have to help me, ya know?”

“Are you kidding?! Of course I do! You’re not just my best friend, you’re my sister. I would do anything for you! I’d even give you my kidney if you needed it.” She waits a minute before adding on. “You don’t, do you?”

I burst out laughing at the look on Maria’s face. “No, I’m good, thanks. But the next time I do need one, I’m coming after you, Maria DeLuca.”

“Fair enough.” She giggles. “Since your parents hired the moving people, I assume they know, right?”

“They know, I called them and told them earlier.” I pick at a string on the sleeve of my shirt.
“Who else knows?” She gently prods for more information.

“You know. My parents know, All the guys at Sigma know.” I explain, then add on. “Oh, you know I moved into the frat house, right?”

“Yeah, but I still don’t understand why.” It takes about a second for the reasoning to slap her in the face. “Oh! So you wouldn’t have to pay rent and you could save up some cash, right?”

“Ding, Ding, Ding. We have a winner.” I reply, which only gets me an eye roll from Maria.

“What’d your parents say when you told them?” She starts braiding random pieces of my hair. “Did they flip out?”

“Well, I had them put me on speaker phone, and then I told them that I had some big news for them... and then I just blurted it out... it was oddly similar to what I did to you earlier.” I rethink the whole conversation with my parents in my head. “First they didn’t believe me, then there was a little bit of yelling, and then they both started crying, blubbering on and on about how excited they were that they were gonna be grandparents.”

“So they’re excited about it?” I can hear the disbelief in her voice. Not that I blame her, it’s hard to imagine my parents being excited about their baby girl being pregnant.

“Yeah.” I can’t get the smile off my face as I explain a little more. “They wanted to know everything... and then they started talking about going to the malls in Albuquerque to get baby clothes, maternity clothes, a crib, changing table, and all that stuff.” I laugh a little. “My dad actually made a list right there while I was talking to him. It was kinda funny.”

Maria giggles. “I SO can’t see Mr. P doin that! I see him flippin the fuck out and then murdering the poor bastard who was dumb enough to get you pregnant. Not run out and purchase every baby thing ever.”

“That’s what I was expecting! I dunno what got into him, but I told them to hold off on buying anything until I got there and we found me an apartment.”

Maria tugs on the pillow under my head, and I sit up. “Thanks, my legs were falling asleep.” She explains, standing up and trying to get blood circulation to happen again. “You’ve already decided not to live with your parents?”

I nod, re-situating myself on the couch. “I don’t want to live too far away from them, but I also don’t want to live in the same house as them. I mean, could you imagine? My mom would be hovering over me constantly, my dad would be pestering me about everything... they’d both end up dead, Maria.”

She laughs, knowing that I’m not exaggerating. “So, the parentals are happy, you’re happy, I’m assuming the Sigma guys are happy. Well, maybe not happy but they’re excited for you, right?” I nod. “Good,” she continues. “Now, tell me, what exactly did Daddy say when he found out?”

My eyebrows draw together in confusion. “What are you talking about? We just had a huge discussion about what my dad said when I told him. Honestly, Maria... you only had one of those damn coffees! Where is your focus today? First the cheerleading thing, now this...”

Maria’s look of confusion over my answer to her question mirrors my look of confusion over the question that I just answered... I’m confusing myself, damn it! “I meant what did your baby daddy say when you told him?” Then she starts laughing. “Haha, baby daddy... sounds like something you hear on Jerry Springer.” She giggles for another minute before she snaps her finger in front of her face and says in her best ‘ghetto’ voice. “Bitch, you stay the fuck away from my baby daddy!”

I roll my eyes. “You’re impossible, you know that?” I stand up and grab my purse. “C’mon, lets get back to the house. I want pajamas so bad, and I’m sure you want a shower.” I make my way to the front door, saying goodbye to Mary Ann on my way out.

She collects herself, still giggling over what she thinks is the funniest thing to ever come out of her mouth. “No, seriously, what’d Steven say?”

“About what? Me being pregnant?” I ask her. I disengage the locks and we both climb into my car.

“About you having his offspring, you dork!” She clarifies, putting on her seatbelt as I start the car.

“I’m not having his offspring, Maria.” I sit and wait for a minute while it sinks in.

“What?” She asks, even though she already knows what I’m implying, she apparently needs to hear the words.

I put the car in drive and pull away from the curb. “It’s not Steven’s baby.”

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I’m sitting on my bed in my blue pajama pants and matching tank top with the monkeys on them, picking fuzz off my stuffed cheetah, Zoe, as Maria paces back and forth across my ‘bedroom.’ The attic is pretty much just one big open space, no walls to separate the livingroom area from the bedroom area from the computer area... but it’s free, so I don’t complain about it too much.

“Ok.” Maria finally stops pacing, dropping onto the end of the bed, plunking her vile of some kind of stinky aroma therapy oil on the night stand with a loud thud. “Let’s just review, shall we?”

I groan. “Maria, we’ve reviewed the situation FIVE times in the last fifteen minutes... will you just accept this? Its not like you can change it!”

“Please. Just... one more time, Lizzie.” She begs, then sticks her already pouty lower lip out, giving me the saddest ‘kicked puppy’ look on the face of the earth.

“Fine, but this is the last time! You ask me again and I’m throwing you out a window!” I sit up, propping some pillows against the headboard and leaning back. “Maxwell Philip Evans is the father of my unborn child.” I repeat for the sixth time. Yeah, that’s all the ‘review’ I have... yet I keep having to repeat it because Maria refuses to accept it.

“Are you sure?” She asks, hoping beyond hope that it’s not true.

“I’d stake my life on it, is that sure enough for you?” I raise an eyebrow, daring her to question it again.

She sighs. “Not to make it sound like you’re a slut or anything, sweetie, but... you and Steven were boffing right before you came to Roswell, and you told me that you and Max used a condom.”

“Boffing? You really need to stop hanging out with Michael.” I glance up at her face, she’s dying for any info I throw her way. “Ok, fine! Jesus! Yes, me and Steven were... together, like that, before I came back to Roswell, and yes, Max and I did use a condom, as did me and Steven... but there’s physically no way that Steven could be the father.”

She throws her arms up. “Gimme something to work with here!”

I run my fingers through my hair, pushing it back from my face. “I’m gonna try to put this as simply as possible. Steven has something called Klinefelters Syndrome. It’s a genetic disorder that occurs when there is an additional X chromosome in the mix, so males affected with this, and this disorder only shows up in males, end up with XXY, instead of just XY.. You with me so far?” She looks confused for a second, but nods for me to continue. “There can be more than one extra X, or even an extra Y. Approximately one in five hundred to a thousand males have this.” Maria mock yawns at me. “Ok, I get it! I’m boring you to death, you just remember that you wanted details!” I huff, but go on. “One of the side effects of Klinefelters syndrome is that any affected male is sterile... unable to produce sperm, and there’s absolutely no way to fix that, hence the complete impossibility that it could be Steven’s child.”

By the time I finish explaining it, it seems that the important information seeped into Maria’s head and she now understands why I would bet my life on the fact that it’s not Steven’s baby. “Wow, that’s crazy shit.” Maria mumbles, then shakes her head slightly. “So anyway, now that we’re certain that it’s not Steven’s, how can it be Max’s?”

Now that “we’re” certain?? I’ve been certain! “Hey, sometimes you can take all the precautions, and everyone can wear the proper equipment and one of those things just gets through.”

Maria tilts her head to the side. “How?”

She’s probably expecting some big, long-winded medical explanation for why this happened, something similar to how I explained why I can’t be pregnant with Steven’s child, but I don’t have one of those for her. “I dunno, Maria! Maybe they have tools!”

She starts laughing hysterically. “Tools?” She asks, before she starts dying laughing again. Despite my best efforts, I eventually start laughing too. That’s one of the things I love about Maria, she makes me laugh even when I don’t want too. A few minutes later, she recovers a little, wiping her eyes. “So, you’re calling Max tonight then?”

I immediately go stiff, terrified at the prospect of having to tell Max that I’m pregnant. Even though we both wanted kids when we were married, we agreed that it should be after we’re both out of college. Not too much you can do that... even the best laid plans... or whatever.

“You’re sure that he has a video phone?” I ask. I told Maria that I’d rather tell Max in person that I’m pregnant, but she told me it was probably better to tell him sooner, that way he wouldn’t be even more pissed that I’d kept it from him. Then, when she noticed that the boys have a video phone downstairs in the game room when I was giving her the tour, she told me that was the best way to do it... that way we could still see each other.

“I’m positive he has a video phone. I remember hassling him about it. I always ask him why he’d buy one of those when no one else he knows has one and all he could tell me was that he thought it was cool and everyone would have them eventually.” She picks at her nail polish. “I guess that damn thing is actually gonna come in handy today.”

The steel doors that lead to the elevator open and Steven peaks his head around the corner, his hand over his eyes. “Is everyone decent?” He asks.

I smile, that’s the way all the boys come up to my room, by poking their head inside to ask if I’m decent. “Yeah, you’re safe.”

He slowly removes his hand from his eyes, then peaks one eye open just to be safe. “Ok, I got all the boys to vacate the game room so you could use the phone, but I’m not sure how long I can hold them off... I’d get down there and make your call now.”

“Ok, we’re coming.” Maria says, hopping off the bed and looking down at me expectantly. When I make no move to get up, she crosses her arms across her chest, tapping her foot at me. “You ain’t gettin any younger, Lizzie.” She finally just reaches down and grabs my hands, practically dragging me off the bed and pushing me into the elevator. The door closes and the elevator starts it’s decent to the main floor of the house. “I’ll be right there with you, I promise.”

I stare straight ahead, as if in a trance, and I don’t even realize when the doors open and Maria pushes me out the door and leads me to the game room, pushing me down into a large leather computer chair in front of the video phone. “I don’t think I can do this.” I say, looking at the phone as if its gonna bite me.

“You can, and you will. You have to, the sooner you do this, the sooner it’s over! Use the band-aide theory.” She announces, poking me in the shoulder.

“The band-aide theory?” I ask, “Oh... quick and painless?”

“Exactly!” She runs back to the game room door that was closed behind us to ensure our privacy and opens it. All the boys are sitting in the livingroom, waiting for the chance to get back to pool, or darts, or video games. “Hey, you guys played football earlier... who has a band-aide on?”

“I got one on my leg...” Derrick hesitantly replies. Maria walks over and grabs him off the couch and hauls him into the game room. He looks at me, totally bewildered.

I shrug my shoulders and look back at Maria. “Demonstration.” She explains, kneeling down and pointing to the band-aide Derrick is currently sporting on his knee. She grabs one end of it and quickly rips it off his leg.

“SONOFA...”Derrick screams before Maria slaps her hand over his mouth and shoves him back out the doors, closing them behind her.

She looks back at me, holding up the band-aide as if it’s a trophy. “Nothing to it.”

I drop my face into my hands, I dunno how much of this crazy woman I can take. “What if he’s not home?” I ask, grasping at straws for any reason to prolong this.

“You won’t know until you try.” Maria sing-songs at me.

“I don’t know how to use this phone, we can’t call him. Besides, I don’t know his home number.” Before I even finish, Maria is rapidly pushing buttons on the phone and thrusting the receiver at me and holding it to my ear.

Holy shit, its ringing! “No, Maria, I can’t!” I scramble off the chair.

“You have to!” She insists, shaking the phone at me, then holding it back to her ear. “Quick and pain– Max? Hey, how are you?” She asks, looking down at the small video screen on the cradle of the phone. “Yeah, I see you too... that’s the purpose of these video phone things. I know, I told you you’d never use it, I was sadly mistaken. No. No! I didn’t just admit I was wrong! I’m never wrong, I was mistaken! Whatever... I have someone here who needs to talk to you, ok? Ok, hold on.” She holds out the receiver to me. “Now or never.”

Even though I don’t want to do this, I know I have to. I sigh, then walk over and quickly take the phone from her and plop down on the chair in front of the video screen. I see Max’s face drain of color. “Hey Max.” I say, giving him a little smile.

“Hi.” He manages, staring into the screen at me. “You look good.” He comments.

“Thanks, you too.” And he does, Lord, he does! I can see part of his dark blue polo shirt, and he has his hair all spiked up in the front... I’m a puddle.

“Maria said you needed to talk to me, what’s going on?” He asks, looking over his shoulder and yelling something to someone in the background.

“Yeah, but if you have company...” I trail off.

“Huh? Oh, no... Fluffy mistook my shoes for a chew toy, there’s no one else here. I was just sitting around watching a movie.” He explains.

Didn’t see that one coming, folks. Max Evans isn’t one to sit at home and watch a movie... especially a single Max Evans. Whatever, I need to get this over with. “I, uhm... I need to tell you something.” I start.
“I gathered that much.” Max says, apparently trying to be helpful.

“Yeah, well, ok. I’m just gonna blurt it out and you can... do with the information what you want, ok?” I see him nod, looking more than a little confused. I take a deep breath... its go-time. “I’m pregnant.” He says nothing, but about ten seconds after that, I see him fall out of the view of the video. “Maria, I think he just fainted...”

“No, I didn’t faint.” Max quickly says, popping back into view of the camera. “I just... well, I fell off the couch, I didn’t faint, but there’s no need to tell people I just did that.” He shakes his head. “Pregnant?” I nod my head, waiting for him to blow up. “Mine?” I nod again. “How can you be sure?”

I drop my head back, less than thrilled that I’d have to explain this for a third time today, first with my parents, then with Maria, and now with Max. I forge on anyway, repeating almost word-for-word the small speech about Klinefelters that I have memorized. After I finish with the speech, I give him a minute to think about what I just said. “So... how are you feeling about this?”

He runs a hand down his face. “I’m not sure. This is crazy.” He runs his hand through his hair, spiking up the front even more. “Are you staying in New York?”

“No, I’m moving back to Roswell. I should be there in about a month or so. I have some things to deal with here, school, job, packing... all that stuff.” I explain.

“Are you... I mean, will you...” He stops, appearing hesitant to ask whatever it is he wants to ask. “You’re not gonna try to keep me away, are you?”

My mouth drops open, and tears instantly spring up in my eyes. “Are you kidding me? I would never do that to you! I want you in this child’s life as much as I am. I’m not doing this alone, Max. I didn’t climb up on top of myself and get pregnant, and I’m not raising this child by myself.”

Max lets out a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” He sits there for a minute, just looking at me. Slowly, a smile spreads across his face “We’re gonna have a baby.”

My heart jumps a little, knowing that he’s actually excited about this. “Yeah, we are.” I can’t stop myself from smiling back.

His smile suddenly falls. “Have you told your parents yet?”
I choke back a laugh, he’s probably expecting my dad to kick in his front door and rip him apart piece by piece. “Yeah, I told them this morning.”

“What’d your dad say?” He rushes on before I even finish my last sentence.

“Well, they didn’t believe me at first. Then they were pissed. Then they got excited and my dad actually made a list of all the baby things he needs to run out and buy me.” I giggle, still not quite sure my dad really did that.

“You’re kidding!” Max gasps, then laughs a little. “I don’t see that, but ok. How pissed were they? What did they say?”

“They said they couldn’t believe their first grandchild was conceived out of wedlock, then they got even madder at me when I explained that the night the baby was conceived we were technically still married... they didn’t find it that funny.” I explain.

“Well, you’re just being honest.” Max laughs a little, then I see him look over his shoulder, and then I see Michael’s face pop up in front of the screen. “Liz? Can I call you back, Michael and Alex just showed up.” Alex’s face pops onto the screen next.

“You can try to call me back, but I’ll probably be asleep. Maria and I are both exhausted.” I sit and think about it for a minute. It’s probably not a great idea for Max to try to call back the frat house... he’s pretty high on everyone’s shit list. “How about I just call you tomorrow and we can talk more about this?”

“Sounds good.” He says, then we sit in slightly awkward silence for a minute. “Ok, I’m gonna go now. I’ll talk to you later. Goodnight, Liz.”

I smile down at the screen. “Goodnight, Max.”

Soon after, the screen goes black and the line clicks, he hung up. I put the phone back on the cradle and look at Maria. I can’t help but smile, things are actually working out ok after all.

TBC...

Now... hopefully you guys will see that I*m not out to totally ruin this fic, and I *do* actually know my ass from a hole in the ground. Thank you for all the positive FB.. please continue with it.

Posting a little early, you can all thank Kay for that! *lol* Hope you guys like it!

Chapter 9

“Joe’s Mortuary. You kill ‘em. We grill ‘em.”

What the fuck was that?? I try to call Max, and that’s the response I get on the other end of the line? Well, that’s just retarded in my opinion. I know for a fact that Max isn’t the one that answered the phone, cause he would never say something like that and I know his voice, and that definitely wasn’t it. Therefore, someone who isn’t Max answered Max’s phone, saying obscene things like that? How rude.

“Yeah. Hi. What?” I say into the phone, hoping whoever it is suddenly stops being stupid. I’m so not in the mood to deal with stupid people right now. I have to be at work in half an hour, and I can’t find either of my tank tops...Maria probably stole them again.

“Who is this?” Comes a quick response. Oy, they’re gonna be difficult. Not smart...not smart at all!

“You answered the phone, who’s this?” I reply.

“You called here, who the fuck is this?” Ohmigod, this could go on forever.

“I did call there, but I called to talk to one Max Evans, and you’re not him. You answered his phone, therefore it doesn’t matter that I called there, because you’re not who I wanted to talk to. Either tell me who the fuck you are, or get the hell off the phone and stop wasting my time!” Do you remember when I mentioned that the bitch-switch might have been permanently flipped? Yeah...I think that was a fair assumption. Either it’s perma-flipped, or it’s the damn hormones again. Either way, I’m prepared to bitch this person out till my last breath.

“Whoa, there. Good God, woman. What’s got your thong so far up your ass? I was just kiddin’ around! This is Kyle.” Ah, so the delinquent has a name, and I know him. Perfect.

“Kyle James Valenti. How I haven’t missed you.” I quip into the phone, dragging clothes out of one of the many boxes that litter my apartment, trying desperately to locate a tank top to go to work. I know I’d probably make a lot more money wearing what I am now, which is just the super-short shorts and bra, but I highly doubt management would approve.

“Hey, you know my name, my full name. That ain’t right. Who is this?” He asks, sounding slightly scared that I know who he is and he has no clue who I am. This could be fun, I could really screw with him, unfortunately, I have neither the time, patience, nor energy to do so, and I still can’t find a damn tank top!

“This is Liz. Liz Parker, do you remember me? You were in my wedding. You stood next to Michael, who was standing next to Max at the alter. I was the one in the white dress that walked down the aisle with my dad, remember?” I may not have time to screw with him, but I always have time to be sarcastic and bitchy. It’s more than just an attitude for me…it’s a way of life.

“Vaguely...” he responds. “So what’s up?”

I roll my eyes. Two minutes ago he was being an asshole, and now he wants to strike up a conversation with me? No, not something I feel like investing in right now. “Oh, ya know...80's hairstyles, helium balloons without strings tied to things, or people to hold them...” There goes that damn sarcasm again...I’m helpless to stop myself from letting it happen!

“Huh?”

“Oh, forget it.” I grumble. That was a damn good joke, people. He should have laughed! Remind me not to waste funny stuff on the simple-minded, they just don’t get it! “Hold on.” I rush out, before rushing out of the elevator doors and rushing through the frat house in search of Maria, who I know has my tank top held hostage somewhere. Yes, I’m still wearing just a bra. I’m far too annoyed with life at this point to care.

“Holding.” I hear him say before I hear him start talking to someone in the background, then the phone gets kind of fuzzy...damn Kyle! I think he just put me on speakerphone! Oh! There’s Maria!

I run into the game room, quickly grabbing the cue ball off the pool table right before she can hit it. “Ok, where is it?”

She looks up at me, and then looks me up and down. “Lizzie, sweetie, you’re supposed to put a shirt on before you wander through a house full of men. Just a little piece of advice, but do what you want, I guess.”

“We don’t mind, really.” Three of the guys chime in, while pausing the PlayStation and looking over.

I glare at them, causing them to quickly get sucked back into the video game before turning my attention back on Maria. “Don’t be cute, Maria Lillian DeLuca! I wouldn’t be wandering around a house full of men without a shirt on if only I could locate the shirt that I need to have on. I’m supposed to be at work in twenty-five minutes! You know for a fact it takes twenty to get there! Thirty during rush hour, OH! And what do you know?! IT’S RUSH HOUR! So, what I think should happen here is that you hand over my shirt, and get your ass in the car to take me to work because we both know you drive a hell of a lot faster than me, and I need your lead foot.” I finish by popping a hip and tilting my head, daring her to slow me down any more. Please remind me later on to buy Maria something pretty for putting up with my hormonal pregnant self for the last two weeks.

“Follow me to your shirt and then we’ll be on our way.” She obediently responds before putting her pool stick down on the table. “Sorry, Jeremy, we’ll have to finish this game later.”

He gives us a smile and a half salute before we begin our trek back upstairs. This time opting for the stairs because the elevator is slow, and isn’t on the main floor, and it would probably take it another five minutes just to get to us. “Who are you talking to?” She asks, glancing behind her as she turns to go up another flight of stairs.

“Talking to? What are you...oh, shit! I’m still on the phone!” I can’t believe I forgot that! I’ve had the damn thing to my ear this entire time! How does one forget they’re on the phone?!
“Hello?” I squeak into the phone, hoping against hope that I wasn’t on speakerphone, and that whoever is listening missed all of my crazy ranting...and the fact that I was wandering around a house full of men without a shirt on. Yes, Max knows that I’m living at the frat house, but he hates it and I go out of my way to avoid it being brought into a conversation.

“That was entertaining.” Is all I get, followed by a round of laugher. Yup, still on speakerphone. Damn.

“Yeah, I’m sure it was! Who all is over there, and who all heard that?” I ask, just as Maria and I reach the attic.

“We all heard everything that just happened, and as far as who all is here...that would be the people that are always here when you call.” Kyle replies.

I groan. That means that not only did Max hear all that, but Kyle, Alex, and Michael were there to hear it too. “Yeah, well...how bout we take me off speakerphone now and let me talk to Max? How does that...HEY!” I’m unable to finish my sentence because I’m pelted in the face by a flying Hooters tank top. “Where was this?”

“My suitcase.” Maria says, giving me a ‘Sorry about that’ smile.

“Take this” I hand over the phone, trying to get my shirt right to put it on. “Please have me off speakerphone and talking to Max before I finish figuring out this shirt.” I beg, knowing that if anyone can accomplish such a thing, it would be Maria.

I stumble into the elevator, which Maria called up right before hitting me in the face with my shirt, my purse dangling from my mouth, my tank top tucked in my shorts, and with one shoe on. Us Hooters girls are the perfect picture of sexiness, aren’t we? Insert eye roll here right as I loose my balance and fall into the wall of the elevator.

The whole time I’m trying to get in a presentable state of dress, Maria is working her magic on the guys. I’d say she’s talking at about 12 words a second now.

I pull my tank top over my head just as the elevator doors slide open. I’m now fully dressed, shoes in place, purse no longer dangling from my mouth. I quickly walk out the front door and towards my car. Maria sticks the phone to my ear just as I toss her the keys. Can you tell I’ve been late before these last two weeks since Maria has been here? We kinda have a system worked out now, of course, I’m usually not on the phone, but whatever, we seem to be working with it.

“Lookin good, Beth.” A group of the guys yell from the front lawn, where they’re in the middle of a game of football.

I do a quick turn for them. “Do I really look ok? I was rushed, as always. Clothes ok? Hair? Make-up? It’s my last day, I gotta look sexy to get some good tips!” I wink at them before opening my car door. Maria rolls down the window just as the door gets closed, therefore not cutting off the convo with the guys.

“You look smokin, as always.” They reply.

“Well, thank you.” I giggle, blowing them a kiss and yelling goodbye just as we pull out of the driveway. “Ok,” I say, turning my attention back to the phone. “Max?”

“I’m here.” He says, sounding rather annoyed.

“What’s wrong?” We go through this every time I call him...it’s getting ridiculous. I know that I could probably just not call him, but I’m trying to reassure him that he’ll be there for every step of the pregnancy. Today was just a courtesy call to let him know that Maria and I are leaving early tomorrow morning. He gets upset if I don’t keep him informed.

“Nothing’s wrong.” He bites out.

“Don’t jerk me around, Max. I already know what’s wrong with you.” I inform him.

“Then why did you ask me what was wrong?”

“Oh, because for some odd reason, I thought you might actually tell me, my mistake. Anyway, you’re mad about me for walking through the frat house with no shirt on and for what I just said to the guys. How right am I?” Give him a minute. Whether he wants to admit it or not, eventually, he’ll cave and tell me I’m right.

“You...might be a little right.” Starting to cave already, wow, I’m wearing him down.

“Please, you know that everything I said was right on the money, so let’s just stop fuckin around and be honest here, ok? I know I’m right, you know I’m right, end of story. On with why I called in the first place...Maria and I are leaving here early tomorrow morning.” I say, all the while trying to apply a fresh coat of lip gloss.

“I know. You told me that two days ago.”

I sigh. Even though we’re working our way back to being friends, we still have a long way to go. Right now, we’re near ‘sometimes civil.’ At this moment, Max is opting to be more difficult than I’d like, and since I can’t make him get his head out of his ass, I’m forced to deal with it. He must have PMS or something. “Ok, well, forgive me for intruding on whatever the hell you were doing, I’ll just hang up now.”

“Don’t hang up.” He whines. God, this man is impossible!

“Why? You don’t feel like being nice, and I’m in no mood to deal with you unless you can be nice. So I see no other option besides the aforementioned hanging up.” I reply

“I’m sorry. I’m just...I’m still getting used to this. To us. To having you back in my life in any capacity other than girlfriend or wife. I don’t know how to act with you now that we aren’t together.”

We sit in silence for a few minutes, neither really sure what to say to the other. This happens a lot. We try to talk, and then we just don’t know what to say to each other. It makes the thought of moving back to Roswell and being close to Max so we can raise this baby together…absolutely terrifying. What if we can’t make it work? What if we can’t manage to be adults about the situation and put our past mistakes behind us and come together as a unit to be parents to our child? The whole thing gives me a headache, and the thought of having to raise this baby by myself, in the case that Max and I really can’t do this together, makes me almost go into panic attacks.

“Stop getting all worked up, it’s not good for the baby…It’s not good for you either.” Max finally says.

“What are you talking about?” I manage, even though I’m close to tears. Damn these hormones.

“Your breathing is getting all erratic and weird, which usually means you’re getting all worked up. Don’t be surprised, I know you better than you think I do.” He says, positively smug that he thinks he knows everything.

I take a deep breath. I could just have a mood swing and throw us back into our usual interaction, or just let it slide and let him just think he knows everything. I opt for the latter, not interested in another fight. “I’m fine. This week has just been insane with it being my last week at work, and trying to get everything packed, and making sure the movers are gonna be there tomorrow morning before we leave to get all the big furniture taken care of, and figuring out where I’m gonna put all my furniture once I get to Roswell...I gotta find an apartment once I get there. It’s just...it’s too much!”

“Now, see! You’re getting all worked up again! Stop worrying about it! Everything is going to be fine, I promise. Do you have everything packed?”

“Yes, but what if the movers don’t show up? What if they loose all my stuff?” I start panicking again.

“If that happens, then we’ll deal with it when you get here. I’m sure that it won’t though, ok?” He’s trying to sooth me.

“Yeah. Ok...” I start to calm down. “But what if I can’t find an apartment?!” I start freaking out all over again.

“Ya know, there’s an apartment for rent two doors down from me. I kinda already checked on it...its two bedroom, two bathroom.”

“Are you serious? That would be great! You’d be really close, so you wouldn’t miss anything! You could be there all the time when the baby comes, and close enough to where if I get sick of you and kick you out, you wouldn’t have that far to go!” I rush out excitedly.

“Geez, thanks.” He replies.

“Oh, be quiet! You know what I mean! Do you think someone would rent it before I got there to look at it?” I ask. Having an apartment right near Max will either turn out to be the best thing or the worst thing ever. Best-case scenario: He gets to be a part of every aspect of my pregnancy, because he’s only two doors away. Worst-case scenario: He drives me crazy and I kill him. Oh well, sounds like a good idea to me.

“I doubt anyone’s gonna rent it before you got here. I kinda went and talked to your parents yesterday...” he starts.

“No. Max, please tell me you didn’t.” After about thirty seconds of silence, I go on. “You did. What happened? What’d they say? Did my dad hit you?!”

“Do you remember that thing we talked about? Calming down? Try that, ok? Yes, I went and talked to your parents and no…your dad didn’t hit me. He really wanted to, but he didn’t. I told them that you’d informed me about the pregnancy, and I intended to be there every step of the way and we should try to get along as to not stress you out, or cause any conflict. They agreed that in the best interest of you and the baby, we could try getting along. After that, I talked to them a little about you moving back, and they said they’d been all over looking at apartments and saw none that they thought you would like, and that’s when I informed them of the apartment near mine. We all went together and looked at it, and they signed the lease for it.”

“They did what?! Why would they do that?! What if I hate it?! What if I can’t afford the rent?! Are my parents insane?!” I yell into the phone, pushing the heel of my hand into my forehead. There’s a yoga position we do during my yoga class that involves pressing your fists into your forehead, it’s supposed to calm you down, and right now, I need all the help that I can get.

“Baby. Stop freaking out!” He yells back at me. Wait...did he just call me baby? “If you hate it, then my dad can get them out of the lease. If you love it, my parents have already agreed to helping pay the rent.”

“No. Are you fucking kidding me? No. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna be your parents’ charity case! You know me better than that, Max!” The pressure to the forehead thing is so not helping anymore.

“Liz, you’re not a charity case! This is my parents’ first grandchild. They want to be able to be there to experience it, just like me, just like your parents.” I hear him sigh. “Look, my parents know they weren’t always fair to us when we were together...”

“Yeah, that’s an understatement.” I mumble, practically growling over the thought of how his parents used to treat us.

“AND!” Max continues on, despite my comment. “They want to make it up to us. To you more than anyone. Please, just let them do this for you. The further along you get in the pregnancy, the harder it’s gonna be for you to work. Just let them do this. I’m begging you to just hold your tongue and let them help.” He pleads with me.

We pull up outside Hooters, I have exactly one minute to get inside and clock in before I’m late for my last day of work. Fan-fucking-tastic. “Fine, they can pay my rent!” I finally relent, giving Maria a kiss and telling her when to pick me up. I get out of the car, starting to really think about this. Why am I saying no to someone paying for my apartment? Does that make any sense?? Whatever, I’ll worry about that really later. “Max, I gotta go, I just walked into work, and I’m just barely making it on time and Dave is glaring at me from across the room. I gotta clock in and get to work. I’ll call you once we get on the road tomorrow, ok?”

“Ok. Just...be careful, and try not to get so stressed. Sniff some of that shit Maria’s always carrying around...but not too much!” He sounds like my mother.

“Ok, I promise. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Liz.”

“Bye, Max.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My alarm starts going off at 4:30 AM. I sit there for a good five minutes, just letting it beep before Maria gives me a slap on the arm from the other side of the bed, yelling at me to turn it off.

I reach over, hitting the snooze button before I stretch and glance over at her. No matter how many times I see Maria in the morning with her hair all done up in curlers, it’s still funny. “Ready to get up?” I ask, my voice rough with sleep.

She yawns before pulling the blankets over her head. “How about we just sleep for another four hours, then think about getting up?” She mumbles.

I think about it for a minute. “Sounds good.” I roll onto my side, throwing the blanket over my head and snuggling deeper into my pillow. I’m almost back asleep when all the lights in the attic come on and the boys all stampede into the room.

“Good morning, girls!” They all yell.

Maria and I slowly pull the blankets off our faces and look over at the guys. “What the fuck are you guys doing?” Maria whines, squinting at them, trying to adjust to the lights being on.

“We’re here to wake you up!” Steven says, bouncing down on the edge of the bed. “Whether you like it or not, you have to get up. The movers are here, they need to start taking stuff down. Not to mention, there’s a big breakfast downstairs just for you two.”

“You guys made breakfast?” I ask, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “Is it gonna kill us?”

They look around at each other before all saying “Don’t think so.”

“Excellent” I say, slowly sitting up and pulling the covers back and standing up. “You guys go back downstairs and tell the movers they can come handle all this stuff...except for those bags over there.” I point to the duffle bags that Maria and I are gonna be taking to Roswell with us, since we’re driving...God, that’s gonna suck! “Maria and I are gonna go get ready, and we’ll meet you guys downstairs for breakfast, ok?”

They all nod, and take off to do...whatever it is that they decide to go do, while Maria and I grab our bathroom stuff and head downstairs to get ready.

Half an hour later, both Maria and I are dressed, hair done and make-up done. Well...we’re kinda dressed. We opted to be more comfortable than stylish. Maria has on royal blue velour pants, and a matching zip up sweatshirt, with a white tank top on underneath. Her hair is curled, obviously, hence the curlers she was sporting this morning when we woke up, and she has the front clipped back out of her face.

We actually kinda match, since I’m also wearing velour pants, the matching zip up sweatshirt, and a tank top...but my velour suit is pink, and I have a light blue tank top on under my sweatshirt. My hair is pulled up high on top of my head in a crazy bun-knot thing...I look like a cheerleader, only without the annoying high-pitched giggle, school spirit, or perky attitude.

We go back up to the attic, where two of the movers are taking apart the bed frame, while two more struggle to get the mattresses down the stairs. I hold the elevator while Maria runs over and grabs one of the duffle bags that are going in the car and puts it on the track, making it impossible for the elevator to leave us. We quickly gather up all the bags that are going in the car, which is probably way too many. We have all of Maria’s luggage, plus three bags of stuff for me. We look like we’re going on a month long vacation to Europe or something, instead of just driving to New Mexico. We have at least two weeks worth of clothes packed...we’re insane, we know it.

We somehow manage to get all the bags haphazardly crammed into the elevator with us and we head downstairs. Once the doors open, we scream out for help, and soon we have half the guys helping carry our stuff to my car. We get most of it shoved in the trunk of the car before we pile up the backseat, taking extra care that the CD’s, snacks, drinks, magazines, and books are easily accessible.

After the car is packed, Maria and I go back inside and find the large dining room table actually set with silverware and dishes and everything...not to mention enough food to feed one of those little tiny countries in Asia that no one’s ever heard of.

“I can’t believe you guys did all this!” I look at them all, tears welling up in my eyes. “I’m really gonna miss you.”

They all crowd around me, giving me hugs and telling me how much they’re gonna miss me. We all sit down to eat, but before we do Steven stands up, glass of juice in hand.

“I’m sure you’re all aware that the reason we’re all here is to say goodbye to Beth, as she’s leaving us and moving to the other side of the country. I just wanted to say that...” he turns and looks me directly in the eyes. “I’m going to miss you, so much. You’re one of the best people I’ve ever met...you have the biggest heart, the brightest smile, and the quickest wit of anyone I know. You’ve become a fixture in all our lives and we’re gonna be lost without you. I really do love you, Beth...no one could ever come close to comparing to you. I wish you all the luck, love, and happiness in the world, and I hope you know that you can stop by any time you want. You’ll always have a home here. We love you.”

All the boys raise their glasses “To Beth.”

By this time, there’s nothing more I can do but cry into my napkin. I always knew it was going to be hard to move back to Roswell...I just never expected it to be so hard to walk away from New York, and everything, and everyone I’d known as home for the past three years.

Eventually, I stop blubbering and we all enjoy a huge breakfast, consisting of every possible breakfast dish possible. We eat pancakes, sausage, omelets, and bacon. I’m forced to drink a glass of milk, even thought I hate milk, on top of the three glasses of juice I actually want to drink–we’ll be making many bathroom stops along the way.

We all just talk, reminiscing about all the good times, all the parties, and Maria and I share some of our crazy high school stories. Right now, she’s finishing up one about when Max and I tried to steal a pink, plastic flamingo from in front of the furniture store back home.

“Why were there pink flamingos in front of a furniture store?” John asks around a mouthful of pancakes.

“Oh, no one really knows why they put them out...but they always seem to end up out there at some point over the year.” Maria explains, before going on. “So anyways...Michael and I are sitting in the car around the corner, and Max and Liz go casually walking by, grabbing the thing, then taking off like a bat outta hell approach. I’m sure it would have worked really well if they would have taken a minute to look behind them. As soon as they grabbed the flamingo, they didn’t take two steps before Sheriff Valenti pulled up beside them and asked them what the hell they were doing.”

I blush a little, remembering how embarrassing it was trying to explain why two sixteen year olds were so interested in that damn flamingo. And to be totally honest, I have no idea why we wanted it so bad...it was just there.

“Did you guys get in a lot of trouble?” Eric manages, even though he’s still laughing at me.

“Nope, didn’t get in trouble at all...and we even got to keep the flamingo.” I say proudly. They all look at me slightly bewildered. “Well...it helped a lot that the Sheriffs son was...well, still is, one of Max’s best friends.”

“Was he one of the guys in the diner that day?” Brad asks.

I nibble on my lips, thinking back to that horrible day. “Yeah, he was sitting with Max when you guys all showed up.”

The mention of Max that day brings conversation to a screeching halt, before Matt mutters. “Yeah, well, your ex-husband’s an idiot.” The guys all mutter in agreement before Matt continues on. “I mean, first the dumbass cheats on you in college, then he leaves, then he gets engaged to another woman, and then starts shit with us when we come to visit you?!”

Before the guys manage to get themselves really worked up about it, I throw in a little something. “He didn’t.”

They all look down at me, confused. “Didn’t what?” Steven asks, an edge in his voice.

“Cheat on me.” I clarify. “In college, he didn’t cheat on me. I guess I forgot to add that part in there when I explained the situation back in Roswell, but...when Max and I got in a fight at the club, I told him why I pulled away from him…because I saw him with Shannon and assumed that he was cheating on me. He didn’t. He was trying to get his friend Scott hooked up with Shannon...” I finish lamely, knowing that I sound like a total idiot in all that.

“Well, did he ever give you any other indication that he might be interested in another girl?” John wonders out loud. “It’s a big leap to just assume he’s cheating...had he ever given you any reason to doubt that he was faithful to you?”

I look down at my hands, not really wanting to go into this, but knowing that the guys already know enough about my relationship, a little more won’t kill them. “No.” Maria reaches over and squeezes my hand, forever being my shoulder to lean on.

“Ya know, I put a lot, ok...most of the blame for the demise of my marriage on Max’s shoulders. I try to act like I was the victim in the whole thing, which isn’t true. I played a pretty big part in the way things ended up. I should have talked to Max when I saw him with Shannon, but I didn’t. I was so scared that my worst fear had finally come true. That Max had realized that he could do so much better than me, and that I wasn’t enough…I couldn’t bear to hear that. I didn’t want to know that Diane had been right all along, that I just wasn’t good enough. I was selfish and immature. As much as I hate to admit it...I should have listened to my parents. I got married way too young, but as always, I didn’t listen and this is where it got me...I’m 21, I’m divorced, and I’m pregnant.” I laugh a little, even though there’s no real humor behind it. “If it was meant to be, then some way it’ll work out. Fate has funny ways of working.”

I look up at all the guys, smiling at them. “I don’t regret for a second any of the things that happened in my life. It’s too late to change any of it now…it’s in the past. But, if I hadn’t have gone down the road I did...I might not have met you guys and I wouldn’t trade my friendship with all of you for anything in the world.” I take a deep breath. “Sorry I just dumped all that on you guys...but you deserve to know stuff like that after everything you’ve done for me.”

We go back to finishing our breakfast without any more deep conversations. We laugh and joke like we always do, totally forgetting all our problems and living in the moment. I think that’s the best thing about these guys. They have no worries and they live for now. They don’t worry about the future...they have fun and do what they want. It’s a very freeing thing, something I’ll really miss about living here.

After breakfast is over, it takes half an hour to say good bye to the guys and more than a few tears are shed. Steven walks me to the car, and Maria makes up a lame excuse about having to go to the bathroom to give us a minute alone.

“So...” he starts, shoving his fingers through his hair.

“Yeah...” I slowly drawl, really not too sure what to say.

“I meant everything I said in there, Beth. I really do love you, but I understand that you could never love me back. The weird thing is...I’m not mad about that. You can’t help the fact that you still love Max, and I can’t do anything to change that.” I start to object, but he presses one finger over my lips. “Don’t deny it, babe. You might think that you don’t love Max anymore...but you do. When you and Maria were telling those stories earlier, your eyes lit up when you talked about Max. I also saw the look in your eyes when you signed those divorce papers...you didn’t want to do it.”

“I didn’t?” I parrot, looking at him like he’s a total looney.

“No.” He states, matter-of-factly. “It’s the last thing you wanted. Just think about it for a minute, Beth. Don’t you wish you and Max had worked things out and were still together?” He tilts his head, looking at me.

I think about it for a minute. Do I wish Max and I were still together? The realization hits me suddenly, and my knees give out slightly before Steven grabs onto me. “You knew I was still in love with him, and that I was making a mistake signing those papers...and you didn’t stop me?”

He smiles a little, shaking his head. “I can’t tell you what to do, or how to live your life, Beth. You gotta figure it all out on your own. I know for a fact that it’s all gonna work out...you and Max belong together. I could see it when you looked into each others eyes...nothing else existed to you two.” He wraps his arms around my waist, giving me a tight hug. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’m gonna miss you too.” I mumble against his shoulder. “But I’m still mad that you didn’t tell me that I loved my husband.”

He laughs, pulling back and tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ears. “Sorry, babe. It’ll all work out, I promise.” He just smiles for a minute before adding. “But if that bastard doesn’t get his act together soon, call me…I’ll handle him.”

I can’t not laugh. “You’re on.”

Maria clears her throat, inching her way towards the car. “Ready? We got a long drive ahead of us and the movers took off half an hour ago. We’re already late.”

“Yeah, I’m ready.” I look back at Steven. “You’re gonna come visit, right?”

“Bet your sweet ass, I am.” He winks before giving me another hug and a kiss on the forehead. “Be good.”

“No promises.” I sing song before I open up the car door and watch him back away towards the door where all the guys are standing. I take a minute to look at them all. “Ok, I really do have to go. I love you guys, and you can call me anytime, ok?” They nod as I get in and shut the door.

I roll down the window and wave goodbye to them as Maria backs out of the driveway and starts down the street. I watch the familiar sights of NYU pass by the window as we make our way out of town.

Roswell...here I come. Again.

TBC...

Hola! Postin Ch 10, because... despite the early hour, its still Tuesday.. and since I updated last Tuesday.. its time to update! *lol* I don't generally write much before my chapters... but there was one thing I wanted to address before this chapter:

sox: The comment you made about Kleinfelters. In some cases, people with this do have femanine characteristics, however, this is not always the case. I actually got in a fight with my Soph. year Bio teacher because he said that in ALL cases of this, mental retardation was present... its not a definite thing. The only reason I can say this FOR SURE, is that my dad actually has Kleinfelters. Now, before you get all worried that Steven might be the the father since my dad has this, I am adopted. Sterility is a side effect, and nothing cures that. So, yes. Max *IS* the father!

I know I had other things to say, but I'm drunk, so I don't remember what else I had to say.. *lol* If theres anything else, I'll address it before the next chapter.

Also, I'd like to say a 'Hello!' to all my new readers (Hey J! Love ya, sista!) and the lurkers out there! You can leave FB, I don't bite!

Onto the regularly scheduled program:

Chapter 10

Three days later, the very welcomed sight of a sign saying Welcome To Roswell comes into view just down the road.

“Oh, there is a God!” Maria yells from the passenger seat, throwing her arms over her head in triumph. “We’ve been driving for months!”

“We have not, it’s only been three days.” I correct her, secretly doing a happy dance in the driver seat at the thought of FINALLY getting to Roswell. I could go the rest of my life without ever sitting in a car again. “It’s not like we were driving the whole time either. A good majority of the three days was spent having to stop for food, gas, or to go to the bathroom.”

“Hey, don’t blame all those pee breaks on me! You’re the one who had to pee every five seconds.” She grumbles, shifting in her seat.

“I’m pregnant. I have an excuse!” I retort, sticking my tongue out at her, then going back to singing along with the Maroon Five song that’s playing on the radio...even though I’m so damn sick of this song that I’ll have to cut my ears off if I hear it again.

Maria grabs her cell phone and calls my parents to let them know we’re just getting into town like we told them we would. I swear…they’ve called every fifteen minutes the entire time we’ve been on the road to make sure everything was ok. We almost got in an accident in one of those states in the middle trying to find the damn phone when my parents called. After that they stopped calling, but made us call them every time we stopped for anything.

I strum my fingers on the steering wheel along with the beat of that annoying Lindsay Lohan song as it starts playing and I pull the car onto the main drag. The familiar sight of the spaceship above the Crashdown comes into view. I run my fingers through my hair, pushing it out of my face as I steer the car into a spot in front of the restaurant.

“You ready?” Maria asks as she unbuckles her seat belt and poises her hand over the door handle.

I unbuckle my seat belt, taking a deep breath and running my fingers through my hair again. “It’s a little late to try to turn back now, don’t ya think?” I open the door and get out before I lose my nerve and take off. Maria comes up next to me as I shut the car door, linking her arm through mine.

“You know everything’s gonna work out, right?” She asks, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind my ear.

“Yeah.” I reply, smiling at her. I honestly couldn’t tell you what I would’ve done if Maria hadn’t been around these last two weeks. She’s been wonderful…helping me move, and just being there whenever I needed someone to talk to. “Thank you.” I randomly blurt out, tears forming in my eyes.
She looks at me like I’m a crazy person, which I don’t blame her for. My hormones have been especially crazy lately. “For what?” She asks, wiping the tears away from the corners of my eyes.

“For being my best friend.” I rush out quickly, trying my hardest to get myself under control. I hate blubbering like an idiot but it’s something that is happening a lot more frequently now, so I think I should just get used to it.

She pulls me into a hug, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “I know you’d do the same for me, so stop crying. You know that when you cry, I cry. We’ve been doing this for two weeks now, and I don’t know how much more I can take.” I start laughing, which I know was Maria’s goal all along. “Better. Besides, you’re back. You’re gonna need to save up the hormones in case you wanna randomly blow up on someone.”

We start making our way inside, ready to face the firing squad. I know it’s probably gonna be nothing, but I can’t help it, I expect the worst. Before we even get to the doors, my mom and dad run out and grab me into a hug.

“Welcome home, baby girl.” My mom says, giving me a kiss on the cheek as she pulls back.

“We’re so glad you finally made it back.” My dad gives me a kiss on the other cheek and stands back to look me up and down. “You don’t look pregnant.”

“That’s because I just started my second trimester, Dad. Give me a month or two, would ya?” I look at them like they’re insane when they just laugh at me and push me back towards my car. “What? You don’t want me here now?”

“Of course we want you here! However, the movers arrived yesterday and we have to pay them extra to keep the truck here with your stuff in it. We didn’t want to try to set up your apartment without you.” My mother explains, opening my car door. “Amy is watching the diner for us, so we’re taking you over there right now. Follow us.”

Maria and I can do little except stand with our mouths wide open as my parents rush into the alley. “Well. Welcome home, I guess.” Maria shrugs, before skipping around to the passenger side and getting back into the car.

I plop into the driver’s seat, still completely confused when my parents’ car appears at the beginning of the alley. They pull out and I quickly start the car and go after them.

“Ya know, I really didn’t need to follow them over there. I know where Max lives, and my apartment is like four doors down from his…it wouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist.” I mumble, fidgeting in my seat. “I hate this damn car!”

Maria picks up a half eaten bag of chips she got a few hours ago and happily begins munching on them again. “Sweetie, you love this car...you’re just sick of being in it. Once we get to your apartment and start unpacking…you’ll be thinking that you’d give your right arm for the chance to get out of there, get in the car, and drive far, far away. Moving sucks.”

She’s probably right, so I try to just enjoy the fact that I’m not unpacking while I still can. I quickly flip through the radio stations, hearing nothing but commercials before I just turn the thing off.

I slow down as we approach Max’s apartment complex...my apartment complex. I can’t help but wonder if this was such a good idea. Yes, it’s ideal that Max be really close in case I need him, but something just feels...I don’t know…not right about all this.

I push all those thoughts back as I pass Max’s motorcycle and the moving van and pull into the empty parking space next to my parents. Maria and I get out of the car and look around. The movers run over to us, looking like they’re in a big hurry to unload this thing and get the hell outta here. Not that I can blame them…Roswell’s a pretty lame place.

“You Elizabeth Parker?” One of them asks in a rough, New York accent.

“That’s the name they gave me.” I reply, reaching into the car and grabbing my purse.

“Excellent. I need you to hold onto this clipboard. All the stuff we took outta your old place got a sticker put on it that has a number. All the numbers got recorded here, with a short description of what the item is. What we need from you is to stand at the front door…when we bring stuff in, you get the number, check it off on the list, and tell us where to put it.” He explains, waving his hands in front of his face, as if that’s gonna help me understand the method behind all this madness any better. “Shall we begin?”

“Ya know, I haven’t even gotten a chance to look inside. Can you give me a minute or two in there, so I can get a rough idea of where I want the stuff to go? That way I can actually tell you where I want my stuff.” I smile at him sweetly. I can tell he really wants to get the hell outta here and I’m doing nothing more then making him stay that much longer.

“Alright, but try to make it quick, please?” He practically begs.

“As quick as humanly possible.” I reply, turning to my parents. “Does one of you have the keys?”

“I do.” My mom responds, digging through the massive thing she tries to pass off as a purse.

“Let’s do this then.” I say, turning around and running directly into someone’s chest. I apologize, taking a step back and then looking up.

“It’s ok. I should’ve made a noise or something…to announce my presence.” Max smiles down at me. “Welcome back, Liz.” He bends down, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “You look great.”

Max and I have been talking daily since I told him I was pregnant, and I was still trying to get used to that. Now, all of a sudden I’m actually here…in Roswell, with Max living practically next door. It’s gonna take me a while to get used to the fact that we’re...well, I don’t really know what we are, but it’s weird.

I realize I haven’t said anything yet, so I shake my head a little “Hey, Max. It’s nice to see you.”

We all stand awkwardly for a minute, except my mom who must have missed all of what just happened because she suddenly screams out “Found em! Found the keys!” Then she looks up. “Oh. Hello, Max.”

“Mrs. Parker, Mr. Parker. You both look well.” He formally says, extending his hand to shake hands with my dad.

My dad looks at it for a minute as if it’s gonna kill him, before I clear my throat and give him a warning look. “Max.” My dad simply replied, quickly shaking Max’s hand, then crossing his arms over his chest.

“Ok, let’s go, people! We got tons of moving to do!” Maria finally announces, pushing us all towards the front door.

My mom unlocks the door and opens it, ushering me in first. When I walk in, it looks just like Max’s apartment. The living room set off to the left with a hallway going toward the back of the apartment, which I assume is the way to the kitchen and dining room, the stairs directly in front of me. I look up at Max. “Is the downstairs in this one the same as yours?”

“Yeah, everything is the same right down to the patio outside. Both bedrooms are upstairs.” He explains, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Then I might as well just look up there, since I already know what the rest of the place looks like.” I shrug, walking up the stairs. Once I reach the top I begin to see the difference. Where Max’s bathroom is there is a master bedroom, with the bathroom attached to it, and the spare bedroom is where Max’s master bathroom is.

I take a few minutes to look around, while my parents and Maria start pointing out where they think stuff should go.

“Hello?” Someone yells from downstairs.

I walk to the top of the stairs to see Isabel and Tess standing just outside. I hurry down the stairs to give them a big hug. “Get in here!” I yell at them, meeting Isabel at the bottom of the stairs.

“Welcome back, little sister.” She says, pulling back and looking me over. “You’re glowing. You look amazing.”

I blush slightly. “Thank you.”

Tess slightly elbows Isabel outta the way. “Don’t hog her!” She puts her arms around me. “I agree though, you look wonderful.”

I pull back, looking at both of them. “Well, I can’t say you both don’t look beautiful too.”

“Hey.” I hear from the doorway, looking around Tess to see Michael, Alex, and Kyle standing there.

“Well, if it isn’t just one big reunion.” I quip, looking at Michael, who just glares at me slightly. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re helping you unpack.” Michael flippantly responds as if it’s nothing.

“Helping me unpack?” I ask in disbelief. “Right, because we’re the best of best friends and all.” I look over my shoulder at Max. “You made them, didn’t you?”

Max feigns innocence as he walks past me. “I did no such thing.” He sticks his head out the door, yelling at the movers to start moving things.

For the better part of an hour I do nothing but check off items brought into the house and tell them which room to put it in. Maria is arranging the stuff in the living room with my dad’s help. My mom and Isabel are in the spare bedroom…which is gonna be the nursery, sketching out what it should look like and pouring over the list of things to buy. Max and Tess are in the master bedroom arranging furniture, and the rest of the guys are in the kitchen, putting away all the dishes, pots, pans, and stuff that I had to get out of storage before moving back.

Isabel skips down the stairs, smiling from ear to ear. “Your mom and I have so many things planned for the nursery! It’s gonna be great!” She gushes, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “How’s the list checking coming?”

“I have too much stuff. I mean look! Five pages of boxes with various things in them…furniture, lamps, tables, chairs, end tables, computer stuff...it’s stupid!” I rant, blowing hair out of my face.

She gives me a sympathetic smile before putting an arm around my shoulder. “Look on the bright side…it can’t be as bad as dinner’s gonna be tonight.”

I feel my whole body stiffen. Please, for the love of God, tell me she isn’t saying what I think she’s saying! “Dinner tonight?” I ask.

“Yeah. My parents said they wanted to have you over for dinner as soon as possible, so Max said tonight would be good for you.” She looks at me for a minute. “Wait...he did tell you, didn’t he?”

I shove the checklist into her hands as I stomp up the stairs. I round the corner and burst into the bedroom where Max and Tess are currently arguing over where to put my dressers. “Maxwell Phillip Evans!” I scream, just as I enter the room causing both Max and Tess to jump.

“Oh good, you’re here.” Max says, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that I want to cause him bodily harm right now. “Where should this dresser go? Tess says over here, I say over here, and then the other dresser...” he continues on, pointing back and forth between two dressers and three walls.

“I don’t give a flying fuck where you put either dresser! What I wanna know is when you were planning on telling me that I was going to dinner at your parents’ house with you tonight.” I manage between my clenched teeth.

His face drains of color. “Oh, you’ve been talking to Isabel, have you?” He asks, looking very afraid...as he should. “If it’s that big of a deal, I’ll tell them you’re too tired from traveling. I just thought you’d like to get the dinner over with as soon as possible. I should’ve talked to you about it first, baby. I’m really sorry. Please don’t get upset.” He grovels, coming over and taking one of my hands in his, rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand in small circles.

I take a deep breath trying to calm down. He does have a point though...driving was a pain in the ass, unpacking is turning out to be a pain in the ass, and going to his parents’ house is gonna be a pain in the ass...might as well just make today hell day and get it over with. “Fine. I’ll go.” I say, dropping back onto the bed, which has already been put together.

I lay there for a minute, positive that Isabel could handle the checklist for a minute while I take a break. I listen to Max and Tess bicker about the dressers for another minute before I finally sit up. “Oh geez. Max, Tess is right. That short dresser won’t fit on that wall, put it on the other one and move on!” I drop back on the bed, putting my arm over my eyes.

“HA!” Tess yells at him triumphantly. “Told you!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~


I pull down the sun visor on the passenger side of Max’s Denali, checking my make-up and hair for the three hundredth time since we left the apartment ten minutes ago. I pick non-existent lint off my black sweater, and smooth the non-existent wrinkles from the front of my dress.

“Stop fidgeting.” Max scolds, never taking his eyes off the road in front of him as he drives to toward his parents’ house for what I’m come to refer to as ‘the last supper’.

“I’m not fidgeting.” I deny, even though I know good and well that I was. I look at the clock, it’s ten ‘til seven. We should be there in about five minutes, meaning we’ll still be five minutes early, but I’m still scared. “Are you sure we’re gonna be there on time?” I ask, for the third time since we walked out of the house.

Max sighs. “Yes. We’re gonna be there early. Stop worrying so much.” He looks over briefly at me before turning his eyes back onto the road.

“Why are we going over there for dinner again?” I whine. I think I’ve earned the right to whine about this though. I mean, going to dinner over there is one thing, but telling his parents we’d be there without even discussing it with me first...oh, yeah…he’s gonna be hearing about this for a long time.

“My parents want to see you.” He calmly explains, turning into FireThorn, the ultra-rich, ultra-swanky, ultra-snotty subdivision his parents live in.

“Why?” I ask, not bothering to hide any of the disdain in my voice. “They never wanted to see me when we were married. Why should it be any different now that we’re divorced?”

Max pulls into the long winding driveway that leads up the mansion the Evans live in. No matter how many times I come to this house it still makes me feel very small and insignificant...people with money tend to have the ability to do that to you. He puts the SUV in park before turning to address my previous statement. “Ok, in all honesty, I have no idea why my parents wanted us over tonight. My mom called me a few days ago. She asked when you were getting into town and told me she would like to have you over for dinner. Since I’m apparently stupid, I agreed. I’ve apologized for not talking to you about it sooner, so I don’t know what else you want from me.”

I look into his eyes for a few seconds before I look out the windshield at the front door. “You’re not stupid, Max. You just want to believe that someday your mother and I will eventually get along, but we won’t. You’re just gonna have to learn to accept it. I have.”

“You guys could get along, ya know?” He tries to convince me.

I look back over at him. “No, Max...we can’t. She’s always believed that since I didn’t grow up here, and since my dad doesn’t make the kind of money your dad does, that I’m white trash. She’s always believed that I’m holding you back from the bright future you should have because you’re an Evans. Nothing is gonna change her mind of that.” I pause for a minute. “If she says anything...”

“She won’t” He interrupts. “I already told her that this was going to be a nice dinner, and there would be no bickering. That goes for you too, ya know?”

I turn and look out the passenger window, an action that I hope is telling him that the conversation is over. He must get the message because he exits the driver side and walks around to open my door for me. I take his offered hand as I step down onto the driveway and turn toward the house.

I let Max drag me up to the front door and I make an effort to correct my posture after he rings the doorbell. Moments later, the door opens to reveal a woman looking totally terrified in a maid’s uniform. She must have just had a run-in with Diane.

“Hello, Mr. Evans.” She whispers, lowering her head and opening the door so that we can walk in.

“Hello, Rose.” Max flashes her a big smile as he ushers me inside the front door and helps me with my coat before handing it to the maid. He takes off his coat and Rose takes it too. “You’re looking beautiful today.” He winks, making her blush furiously.

“Rose.” Diane clips, stepping into the foyer. “Please put the children’s coats in the closet, and tell Suzanne that we’ll be ready to eat in fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Rose replies before running out of the room as though her life depended on it.

Diane watches after her before turning her attention back to us. “Hello, Max. Liz.”

“Mother.” Max leans forward and gives her a kiss on the cheek before stepping back and placing his hand on the small of my back, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by Diane.

“Hello, Mrs. Evans. It was very nice of you to invite us over to dinner…thank you.” I reply, mentally going over the list in my head of all the things I’m supposed to be doing in the presence of this woman. Stand up straight, keep my head up, when I sit down cross my legs at the ankles, always keep my hands in my lap, don’t bang the silverware together at dinner, don’t put your elbows on the table, always have your napkin in your lap.

“Diane, don’t make them stand in the foyer all night.” Phillip scolds, coming out of his office and making his way toward us. He says hello to Max, shaking his hand. Evans men don’t hug. He turns his attention to me. “Hello, Elizabeth. You look absolutely radiant tonight.” He takes a hold of one of my hands and kisses it. It’s sort of a little tradition, something Phillip has done since Max first introduced us…something I’ve actually missed.

“Thank you, Mr. Evans.” I politely respond, smiling at him.

“Yes, well. Shall we go into the living room and have a drink?” Diane turns and walks into the living room after asking. With Diane it’s always better not to answer questions such as that since they’re usually rhetorical. To provide an answer does nothing more than make her think you’re stupid and incapable of keeping up with conversation.

Max, Phillip, and I all file into the living room. Max and I sit on the most uncomfortable couch known to mankind, while Philip opts to sit in what looks like the most uncomfortable chair.

“Elizabeth, what would you like to drink?” Diane asks, handing Philip and Max a scotch.

“Soda would be fine, thank you.” I cross my legs at the ankle, almost grimacing in remembrance of all the times she would correct me that true ladies do not cross one leg over the other. I still don’t understand the reasoning behind it…I was always too afraid to ask.

She hands me a glass of soda, which I politely thank her for, and then she takes a seat on the couch across from Max and I. We all sit, sipping on our drinks, no one saying anything. The uncomfortable silence stretches all the way into dinner.

As I sit and pick at the dessert in front of me, some kind of weird, chocolate thing, Diane starts speaking and it startles me so badly that I almost throw my fork across the room. That would have been a great topper to the night.

“Have you started purchasing things for the baby yet?” Diane asks, gently setting her fork on her dessert plate and pushing it away from her.

“No, not yet.” I try my best not to stutter as I speak. “My parents have been talking about taking a trip up to Albuquerque this weekend or the next to start getting some of the furniture, and clothes for me and the baby.”

“That sounds nice.” She says, reaching for her wine glass. “You know, I still have the carriage I used when Max and Isabel were little…I believe it’s in the attic. I could have Rose look and then take it to get any necessary repairs.”

Oh God. This is a test, isn’t it? She’s testing me on something. Think, think! What is the right answer?? Oh, screw it! I’ll just say what I want to say. “That’s very nice of you, but I think I’m just going to get a regular stroller.”

“A regular stroller?” She asks, as if I’m speaking Anne Heche’s alien language. “Is there something wrong with using a carriage?”

“No, nothing wrong with it at all. I just don’t think it’s something that would be right for me. I’m not Madonna.”

“And I am?” She asks, pointedly, setting her wine glass down.

“Mom.” Max warns. “It was a nice gesture, and Liz politely declined your offer…let it go.”

See? I knew something like this was gonna happen. There has never been a time that I’ve come into this house that some kind of spat hasn’t occurred. I lean forward, resting my elbows on the table and putting my head in my hands.

“Elbows, Elizabeth.” Diane corrects me.

“Oh, geez.” I mutter, removing my elbows from the table and dropping back in my seat.

“Mom, can’t you just for once not be the etiquette Nazi and just let her sit there?” Max asks, reaching over and giving my hand a comforting squeeze.

“Maxwell, don’t speak to your mother like that.” Philip says, never once looking up from his dessert.

“I don’t appreciate that tone, Max.” Diane goes on, as if Philip never said anything. “I think I’ve been very polite considering everything that’s happened.”

“Everything that’s happened? What exactly is that?” Max asks, crossing his arms across his chest.

“First, you two get married far too young and throw half your lives away...” She starts.

“We didn’t throw half our lives away.” Max interrupts.

“Then, when you’re finally getting settled down again and you’re going to marry that lovely Tess, she comes back and it all goes to hell...” She continues.

“Mom, I didn’t love Tess and you know that! Tess and I still see each other, and she doesn’t want to kill me anymore after what I did, so I really think I came out on top in that scenario.” I really want the floor to open up and swallow me... this blows!

“And now she’s claiming to be pregnant with your child, God only knows if it really is...” Ok, I’m shutting this bitch up right now.

“That’s it!” I yell, grabbing my dinner napkin off my lap and tossing it on the table. “You can say a lot of rude, condescending, bitchy things to me, and I’ll take it. Why? Well, because I’m just used to you being a bitch by now, but if you think you can say anything, ANYTHING like that about my child, you have another thing coming, lady!”

“Liz...” Max starts, ready to run interference and smooth things over.

“No. Don’t start with me.” I point at him before returning my attention to Diane. “I knew that coming over here tonight was gonna result in nothing good, but I went against my instincts and I came over here anyway. My bad. Won’t happen again.” I push my chair back, ready to walk out. “If, and only if, you can manage to get that stick out of your ass, I might consider coming over here again. But until then, I don’t want you to come near me, or my child. So, if you want to be a part of your grandchild’s life, you will think long and hard before you ever say something like that to me again. Do you understand?”

The look on her face is something between stunned and outraged, but she opts to not say anything more, and to simply put her napkin on the table, and leave the room.

Rose appears out of nowhere with our coats, and I’m fighting back tears of anger as Max helps me put on my coat.

“I’m sorry for her behavior tonight.” Philip finally speaks up, standing and coming over next to me. “It’s not that she doesn’t like you Elizabeth...”

“Coulda fooled me.” I mumble, wrapping my coat around me.

“It’s not that at all. She’s always liked you…despite how she acts. Max is her baby. No matter how old he gets, he’s always going to be her baby. She didn’t want him to grow up, get married, and move away from her. Unfortunately, since Max fell in love with you, Diane sees you as the reason that her baby isn’t a baby any more. You’ll understand that when you have your little one.” He lightly puts his hand over my stomach, and walks us to the door. He clears his throat a little before reaching into his suit jacket, pulling an envelope from the inside pocket. “Here.” He says, handing it to me.

“Oh, no. After everything that happened tonight, I couldn’t possibly accept that. It wouldn’t be polite.” I decline.

“In some circles, it’s considered impolite to not accept a gift.” He winks at me, taking my hand and placing the envelope in it. “Just a little something to help when you go to Albuquerque.”

“Thank you.” I smile up at him. “I’m very sorry about how tonight ended. I didn’t mean to say all those things...”

He holds up his hand, shaking his head. “You should have heard some of the things that came out of Diane’s mouth when she was pregnant.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Max adds, shaking his fathers hand before opening the door for me.

“Bye, Mr. Evans.” I say over my shoulder as Max leads me toward the car.

He opens the door for me, helping me in and closing the door again before jogging around the car and getting in the driver seat. “Well, that was interesting.” He shoots a smile my direction while pulling out of the driveway.

“Are you kidding me? Interesting is hardly the word I would use to describe the evening.” I kick off my shoes and put my feet up on the dashboard.

“What word would you use?” He asks, looking over every few seconds…probably trying to decide if he wants to tell me to get my feet off his leather interior or not.

“Uhm...disaster is the word sticking out for me.”

Max laughs a little. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Wasn’t that bad?” I repeat, “What dinner were you at? Did you miss the fight your mother and I got into?”

“Funny stories to tell the children later.” He says, thinking about it for a second. “Well, we can leave out a few of the details.”

“Children?” I ask.

“What?” He looks over at me, confused.

“You said children.” I clarify. “Children being plural...meaning more than one. Are we planning on having more than one together?”

“I’m sure I didn’t say that.” He tries to cover up his slip, pulling into our apartment complex.

He parks in front of his door, once again jumping out and running around to help me out of the car.

We walk to my front door as I dig for my keys in my purse. I finally find them and unlock the door while looking up at Max. “Well, thank you for an...”

“Interesting?” He supplies, smiling.

“Yes, fine. Thank you for an interesting night.” I laugh.

“It was my pleasure.” He leans against the doorway, and we stand there for a minute. “Why is this weird?” He asks. “We’ve seen each other naked, and we’re standing here like idiots. It isn’t right. I vote we stop.”

I can’t stop myself from giggling at him. “I agree. I vote for that too.”

“Ok, then I’m gonna go. Have we officially decided on a shopping weekend?” He asks, pulling his keys out of his pockets.

“Not quite yet. Isabel and my parents want to go this weekend. The one that’s like two days from now, but I don’t know if I want to be in a car that long again so soon after the drive out here.” I explain.

“Understandable.” He nods. “In any event, just let me know when it’s official, ok? I want to go.”

“Max, you’re not gonna have fun. We’re not shopping for boy things...we’re shopping for baby things.” I try to rationalize with him, seeing as how I don’t want him following behind me through the mall bitching about it.

“I want to go. If I start pissing you off, send me to go look at tires or something.”

I laugh. “Ok, it’s a deal.”

“Ok, I’ll see you later.” He leans down, giving me a soft, lingering kiss on the lips, before pulling back and slowly walking backwards toward his apartment. A shit-eating grin plastered on his face. “Goodnight, Angel.”

“Goodnight, Maxie Poo.” I tease, before stepping inside my apartment and shutting the door. I lean back against it and take a deep breath. What a crazy night.

TBC...