“Figures. Yet we still managed to lose you, right?” Maria asked.

“Yeah. Liz is flipping. She thinks Michael kidnapped you again or something. Max wants to know what you found.”

“He did… in a way. But in a good way,” Maria said, remembering the story.

“Meaning?”

“We decided to take a little road trip together. You know… just to, like, spend time together. Without Max or Liz or you or Alex or Mom or the Sheriff or Kyle…” Maria babbled, wishing she was better at lying. “Right. Sure. I believe you. Listen, Maria, I really don’t have time for this. I have a date in like, fifteen minutes. Hurry up and spill.” Isabel commanded.

“Spill what? Look, Isabel… Michael and I, we made up, we decided to take off. We’ll be back by Monday. So you can go!” insisted Maria, eager to get back to her dream. She glanced over at dream Michael. He was waiting patiently for her. She wished the real Michael could be so considerate. “Maria, we haven’t known each other very long. But you are a really bad liar, and I am a very perceptive person. So quit lying. What happened to cause you to run away with Michael?”

“Ok… fine. We found a sort of a disk.”

“A disk?”

“Like, an information disk.”

“What does that have to do with us?” “It had that symbol on it.”

“Jeez… why - ”

“We wanted to ask River Dog before worrying Liz… she’s gone through enough.”

“And Michael wanted to avoid Max getting pissed at him for cutting school with you.” “Right. And,” Maria explained before Isabel could ask “River Dog was away. So we’re going to find him. In, um, Florida. Yeah, that’s what Michael said. Miami, Florida.” “Really…” Isabel looked skeptical.

“Please, Isabel… don’t follow us. We really want to - ”

“I’m not going to follow you anywhere. I can’t speak for Max however… so I suggest doing whatever you really want to do, Mrs. Guerin, before he shows up.” And with that, Isabel disappeared, leaving Maria alone with dream Michael.

“Now… where were we?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what seemed like years, Michael pulled into the Ramada Inn parking lot. He debated whether or not he should leave Maria in the car while checking in. She might be afraid if she woke up, and he wasn’t there. On the other hand, he wanted to let her sleep as long as possible. She looked really, well, happy.

He also had to admit that it would look more magical, waking up the fair lady, and whooshing her upstairs to the hotel room. Without having to stop, and talk to some annoying hotel concierge, and check in, and get their bags taken up… Oh, who was he kidding? Maria was not that type of girl. Even if he charmed her by carrying her over the threshold of their room, she’d still end up sleeping in her own bed.

He made a split second decision. “Yo, wake up. We’re here. Come on, I don’t have all day,” he said, shaking Maria.

“What? Oh, Michael, way to be considerate. What time is it?” Maria yawned.

“Almost eight. I think.”

“Jeez, Michael, how fast did you drive? Ninety?” Maria asked, sounding more awake as she got out of the car.

“Almost.”

It took twenty minutes to check in, but finally they got up to their room. Michael could practically feel Maria’s relief when they opened the door and she saw the two beds. She nearly bounced into the room, exclaiming about how nice the place was.

“Christ, Michael. River Dog spared no expense! I feel like a princess or something!” Without waiting for an answer, she dropped her bag and walked into the bathroom. “God! Look at the tub! It’s huge! Michael, I brought my bath oils! Mmm… I’m definitely going to take a bath.” Great. Nakedness. Just what he needed. Maria came back into the room, and started digging through her stuffed duffel bag. “Where, oh where is my razor?” she muttered.

Oh, god. Her legs… smooth… shaven… was she trying to kill him, or was it just a nice side effect?

“Found it! And look!” Maria held up an oversized, fluffy green bathrobe. “Yes! Perfect! Okay, Michael, I’ll be out in say, an hour. Will you be able to amuse yourself?”

“Yeah, Maria, I think I can handle it. But you are going to turn into a prune.” “No problem.”