“And you say this, because?” Max murmured, content and sleepy.

Propping herself on one elbow, Liz grinned down at her lover. “I don’t think I’ve been ravaged so often… or so intensely in quite a while…” She laughed, tracing a small circle around his nipple.

“I guess I’ve had a lot of…”

“Frustrations to work out?” She teased.

Max chuckled. “That’s one way to think of it. I’m sorry if it seems like I’m only interested in~”

“Oh, I’m not complaining.” Her hand slid down his body, coming to rest just below his abs. “In fact, I’m trying to think of the best way to tie Michael up and make him stay. Especially if I get more naked, frisky Max.”

Flipping her over, Max held both of Liz’s wrists in one hand, and leering down at her seductively. “You like naked, frisky Max, do you?” He nibbled on her neck, just below her ear. Liz was caught midway between bursting into giggles, and pouncing him for what would be the fifth time that day. Her body, worn out from their last session, won out.

“Max, Max, Max…” She whimpered. “You have to stop. I need… a little rest here.” He let go of her hands, and she reached out to touch the small pout he’d developed. “As much as I am… enjoying this immensely… you know that you’re going to have to talk to him…”

Max curled up against Liz, resting his head on her shoulder. “Yeah. I know. I will… eventually.”

**

Tapping his foot under the table impatiently, Michael stared at Isabel until she handed the Tabasco sauce over. He quickly emptied the bottle and signaled to the waitress to bring him another. “How’s Alex?” he asked, before biting into his burger.

“Alex? Fine. I really should call him – I haven’t spoken to him since I got here.” Isabel noticed Michael’s raised eyebrows. “We’re friends, just friends.”

“Mmm hmmm.”

“Well, I didn’t go off and bond our lives together or anything,” she snapped.

“Is.”

“So,” Isabel picked at her fries. “Explain to me again what you did.”

“I’ve already explained it three times.”

“I still don’t completely understand.”

Michael took a sip of his soda, then went back to his burger. “Tough.”

“I guess what I don’t understand…” Wrinkling her nose, Isabel hesitated. “Well, why Maria?”

“Why not Maria?” he shrugged.

“Why not!” Her eyes widened in exasperation.

“I’m not getting into this with you.” Michael stated firmly.

“So… what… you just went off and married the first person that popped into your head?”

“I’m not married.” He started pouring more hot sauce in his drink. “And I’m not getting married. So, just put that out of your mind.”

“Well, you better tell that to Maria. She’s the kind of girl that sits up nights dreaming about her ‘just-so’ wedding.”

“No, she isn’t.” Shooting the blonde a confused look, he grabbed a couple of her fries. “Besides, she wants me to break it.”

“Maybe that’s best.”

Michael sat up, surprised, and a bit hurt. He’d expect a comment like that from Max, but Isabel? Lately Isabel had been the one he could relate to more. There was still the underlying fear that she might lose ‘her boys,’ but with the dream and everything… Michael was shocked that after all that, Isabel couldn’t see how important Maria was to him.

His emotions were written across his face, and Isabel flinched when she saw what her words had done. Biting her lip, she searched for a way to soften the blow. “I’m sorry, Michael. I just hate to see what you are going through…” She laughed softly. “I thought that maybe it was one thing Maria and I actually agreed upon.”

“She’s still not over it, is she?” He asked quietly.

“Miss Hold-a-grudge-until-hell-freezes-over?”

Michael smirked. “That’d be Maria.”

“No,” Isabel shook her head. “I mean, I was in school for a while, so I hardly saw her. But the six months between my coming home and them moving here were horrible. She’d barely even speak to me. And it didn’t help that Max spent a lot of his time with her.”

“So… they were together a lot?”

“You know Max – he’s never been the most sociable person. And Maria, from what Liz said, she kind of retreated from everyone for a while. I think she dated a couple of guys, nothing serious.” Isabel glanced towards the door with an amused expression. “Alex used to call them the ‘mopey non-couple.’”

“Couple…” Michael grumbled.

Whipping her head back, Isabel raised an eyebrow. “Why, Michael Guerin, are you jealous?”

“What would I be jealous of?” He scoffed.

“You ARE!” She giggled. “But you have no reason to be. Max is in love with *Liz.* It’s not like anything would *ever* happen between him and Maria.”

Biting his tongue, Michael tried to smile back at Isabel, but it came out as a twisted grimace. He sipped his soda, and changed the subject.

**

When they got back to the apartment, Max was lying on the couch, flipping mindlessly through channels. Michael sat in the chair across from him while the blonde walked into the guest room. His nails rapidly drummed against the wooden arms of the chair.

“We need to talk, Maxwell.”

Max closed his eyes, then looked over at him. “I know, Michael.”

“Not here.”

Nodding, Max sat up and pulled on the shirt that was lying on the floor next to him. “We should probably go somewhere there’s a bit more privacy.” He walked over and grabbed his keys off the counter and called back to Liz, saying they’d be back later. Michael followed him out to the car.

They drove in complete silence. Max hadn’t ventured to turn the radio on, and Michael stared out the window at the manicured lawns of the houses they passed by. Everything was perfect – not a leaf or blade of grass out of place. Houses not unlike the Evanses – houses that were nothing like the trailer he grew up in. Roswell never felt like home – he didn’t feel like he belonged, or that anything belonged to him. Even Max and Isabel – they were more each others’ than they were his. The one person he thought he had… well, apparently, she belonged to Max now, too.

“Just tell me why.”

Michael’s tone was relatively unemotional – but Max was still nervous. “I… it’s hard to explain.”

“I don’t need a blow-by-blow explanation – I’ve pretty much seen it.” His pointed remark made Max wince. “I only want to know why.”

“It kind of just happened. I mean, it wasn’t like we were drunk or anything. It was, well, we were talking, and then we were kissing and then…” His voice trailed off.

“Do you love her?” Michael asked, looking straight ahead.

“Maria? Of course I love her. Aside from Liz and Isabel, she’s the closest person to me.”

“Are you *in* love with her?”

Max pulled the car over into the first parking lot he saw. Taking the key out of the ignition, he stared at his fingers gripping the steering wheel. “I don’t know,” he gulped. “I know that my feelings run deeper than simple friendship.”

“Maria – how does she feel?” Every question was rattled off with a detached sense of inquiry.

“The same, to some degree.” For what it was worth, Max was being totally honest. It wasn’t a matter of getting back at Michael, or trying to hurt him, but he know that if the roles were reversed, he’d want to know the truth.

“What about Liz?”

“I love Liz more than anything.”

“Then why did you sleep with Maria?” It was the first time that Michael had looked at Max since they’d left the apartment. As he waited for an answer, his cold exterior was slowly slipping away, the car suddenly seemed smaller – and Michael was feeling incredibly claustrophobic. Determined not to let Max see how it was getting to him, Michael opened the door and slammed it shut.

Max got out and sat on the hood, next to where Michael was laying down. He bit his lip, trying to find the best way to explain why he betrayed his best friend. Taking a deep breath, he spoke. “She was just sitting on my bed, so sad. We had left the party and walked home – around the lake, through the small patch of woods near my apartment. It took a while, but neither of us noticed, we were just talking. Anyway, I think it hit us both at the same time that it had been a year since Isabel and I had come back… alone. Out of nowhere, Maria started to cry.”

Covering his eyes with his hands, Michael thought of the few times he had seen her cry. Maria was an extremely emotional girl – but always more public with her anger than her pain. She had no issue with screaming at him in a crowd of people, but when she was upset – she went off on her own, away from everyone.

“It was probably the first time I saw her cry. And I know that it was the first time she’d cried since you left. There was all this emotion bottled up in her, stuffed down as far as it would go – so, when she let it out, it was like some small explosion. Maria sat there, on my bed, her knees curled to her chest, and sobbed. And there was nothing I could do.” Max paused, trying to decide if he should go on, telling Maria’s secrets. He knew that she didn’t want Michael to know how deeply his leaving affected her, but it seemed as if Michael had wrongly convinced himself that the two had embarked on some kind of passionate affair. “I remember the things she said – what she wouldn’t give to hear you yell at her one more time, or even stand close and ignore her. That she’d convince her mother to stop making alien keychains if you would just call, or write, or something. That she wasn’t really angry, because she knew that you *had* to finish your quest. She looked at me, her big eyes blurry from tears and her lip quivering, and asked me if you said anything to me about her, if you still cared.”

Leaning forward, Max rubbed his temples. Michael hadn’t moved, but by now it was too late to stop. “I didn’t know what to do. I just… stared at her. And then, without thinking, I kissed her. And she kissed me back. Things kept going. And nothing has ever happened since.”

They sat there, in the middle of a busy supermarket parking lot, not speaking to each other. A cool breeze drifted by, and Max regretted not bringing a jacket along. He had a sweater in the car, but he didn’t think it’d be the best time to check. Rubbing his hands against his arms, he blew into his hands to warm them from the chill that was setting in. Michael, however, didn’t move a single muscle for almost a half-hour.

“Funny.”

“What?” Max looked at him in utter confusion.