"Not really," she didn't seem bothered by the thought. "I think we might do something this weekend," Liz dismissed nonchalantly and Maria's mouth dropped open at the comment.

"Share, share! You have to tell me these things!" she squealed and Liz just laughed. "What're you doing?"

"I don't know, he didn't say..." Liz paused, "he just kind of mentioned it last night."

"Last night?"

"Yeah, when I went over to his house."

"You went over to his house?" Maria asked, more than a little confused and Liz just rolled her eyes.

"I was bringing him his government book," Liz fed Maria the same excuse she'd given Max's mother. Maria saw through it though.

"Liz, we haven't opened that government book all year," she looked at her friend disbelievingly - looked at the grin on her face. She was trying to contain the smile creeping on her face and was avoiding looking up at Maria. The bell rang and Liz quickly made a beeline for the door. Maria just stood there, watching her go - a wide smile on her face. "You are bad, girl."

Liz wouldn't exactly call it bad. She sat in her room Saturday morning, waiting for Max to come by and her mind drifted off. He'd casually mentioned Thursday night that they might go out this weekend, seeing as he had no basketball practice that morning, and so she lay on her bed thinking and waiting. No it wasn't bad. More like in love. The past week - all of it - it had been surreal. Starting with Sunday night and the incredible kiss that had started it all. She couldn't believe that only days ago she had been laying on this same bed, terrified of Max and afraid to fall asleep. Now she couldn't wait to fall asleep. So she could dream about him and be with him then even when she wasn't in actuality. She glanced over at her clock radio, it was just past ten o'clock. She didn't even know if Max was up right now. Yet she waited. She turned on the radio and just lay back on the bed. The Goo Goo Dolls song "Slide" came on and she turned up the volume, listening to it and looked outside to the clear blue day. It was the perfect day to go out. The perfect day to be with the one person in the world you truly wanted to be with more than anyone.

A horn sounded outside and she looked out the window to see the familiar beat-up jeep she was spending more and more time in. Smiling widely at the jeeps arrival she began running down the stairs. "I'm going out with Max!" was all she announced to the parents bewildered at the arrival in the back of their house as she raced down the stairs and out the back door. Max smiled widely when he saw her sprint from the back entrance of the Crashdown towards him.

"You ready?" he asked looking to her fumbling in one hand with her bag and her jacket with the other. He took her jacket from her hands and neatly placed it in the back seat for her.

"Yeah," she nodded her head breathlessly and as she jumped into the car she recognized the same song she'd just been listening to. *What you feel is what you are and what you are is beautiful* They both reached down at the same time to turn up the volume and their fingers met briefly as they looked to each other and smiled.

"I love this song," she said honestly and he nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, me too." Max pressed his foot down onto the accelator and the jeep began to sputter off. "Let's go," he said happily as they began to drive down the streets of Roswell and towards the open desert highway.

"Where're we going?" she asked curiously and he glanced over to her, the smile having anything but vanished from his face.

"I don't know - what about the mall over in Artesia?"

"That's two hours away..." Liz shrugged, seeming doubtful at the suggestion, and Max just smiled wider.

I know."

The clock read eleven o'clock as Maria stumbled sleepily through the backdoor of the Crashdown for the morning shift she always shared with Liz. She grumbled to herself as she made the way to the locker where her uniform was wadded. She definitely wasn't a morning person - never had been. Eleven o'clock was the time she would love to be first crawling out of bed, maybe still in bed. But here she was, ready to start her shift. Glancing around the backroom of the Crashdown, she was a bit perplexed at Liz's absence. Figuring she was probably already out in the kitchen and serving people their coffee and eggs Maria peered through the window of the door only to see Liz's father out among the customers. A frustrated looking Mr. Parker walked briskly through the door and Maria backed away quickly.

"Isn't Liz supposed to work this morning?" she questioned, glancing down at her watch. "It is this morning isn't it? God, I didn't oversleep did I? This is Saturday, right?" Mr. Parker actually cracked a smile at Maria's overreaction and he shook his head.

"Yep, Lizzie was supposed to work this morning, like she was supposed to work Thursday night..." his voice drifted off and Maria immedietly caught on to what he was hinting at. Liz and Max. "I don't know it's like - as soon as she started hanging out with this Max kid..." again his voice drifted and he seemed to shrug off his worries. "It's not a problem," he assured himself, but Maria knew he had suspicions. Mr. Parker scratched his head, seeming unable to shake the thoughts and he leaned against the wall. "I mean, he looks like a nice kid...he acts like a nice kid," Maria opened up her mouth to say something but before she could he continued, "but then there's those..." he motioned to his face. "The black eye, the fight at the Crashdown...I can't shake that. It's like I can't help but be suspicious, you know? She's my little girl."

Maria felt more than awkward hearing Mr. Parker confide to her and she just stood there uncomfortably. She knew what Mr. Parker was nervous about. He was nervous about Max taking his little girl away from him. About Liz having another guy in her life now that she could turn to. Something told her he hadn't gotten this bothered when Liz had been seeing Kyle and she knew it was because he could sense "it" too. He could sense everything between Max and Liz that she could sense. That Isabel could sense, that Max's parents could. They'd only been "together" for four days but she knew Mr. Parker could tell it was much longer, much deeper than that. His memory suddenly began to recall images of Max entering the Cafe and Liz suddenly seeming to zone out everyone else in the room, images of Liz scanning the high school basketball scores so urgently for Max's name, images of the looks he saw Max give his daughter and the looks he saw his daughter return to him. And he knew it wasn't just these past four days. Liz had been slipping away from him for months.

Max and Liz had only been on the road for an hour, before they stopped at a diner on the side of the road. The signs had read Thirty Miles until the Crazy Dog Diner, Twenty Miles, Fifteen Miles, Ten Miles and Five Miles. They'd both decided that they had to stop at the diner to see what the big fuss was over. It was less of a traditional hometown diner and as the two sat at a booth eating their - almost gourmet - omelettes Max finally commented on it.

"I...don't think it's better than the Crashdown," he stated matter-of-factly and Liz looked at him bewilderedly as she took another bite of her omelette.

"You don't? 'cos I absolutely love this -" she began to argue and Max glanced across the room to where a waitress was refilling a cup of coffee.

"The waitresses aren't as good..." he dismissed taking a sip of his cherry coke, "they don't even compare.." his voice drifted, looking over at her and Liz blushed. He suddenly reached across to the end of the table and grabbed the hot sauce, pouring it over his omelette. "And they don't actually have Tabasco - they only have..." he glanced down at the label, "Crazy Dog Hot Sauce - which is just..." he began to laugh and Liz cut him off.

"What is with you guys and tabasco anyway? Is that.." she lowered her voice, "is that an alien thing?" Max nodded his head as he continued to soak his home fries in the hot sauce.

"We like things sweet and spicy." Liz smiled at the simple comment, at Max's cheerful mood. This trip was his attempt to push back the negative thoughts that had been creeping into his mind. About he and Liz. The fact that he was discussing himself, Isabel and Michael with her still seemed to plague him though. "So what do you want to do over in Artesia?" he changed the subject suddenly and Liz just shrugged.

"I really haven't been there in so long, I don't even...oh my God, my parents don't even know where I am!" Liz suddenly realized, "I should call them." She began to reach for her cell phone but Max reached across the table for her hand.