*****

Liz didn’t know what to do. Her best friend, Maria, wouldn’t come out of the closet. Two weeks prior Maria had lost her virginity to the only boy she had ever loved and then dumped him the next day. Michael was crushed. Liz had seen Michael’s face the second it happened. It was like this light in his eyes just died. Maria said she didn’t know why she did it but Liz knew that there was something more that Maria wasn’t saying. Ever since then, whenever he came in to The Crashdown to eat with Max and Isabel, Maria ignored her waitressing duties and hid.

Oh, well what could she do? Atleast it wasn’t too busy. Liz glanced over to Max’s table, and was a little disappointed to see that he wasn’t looking at her. In fact he was staring at something outside. From her angle, the glaring sun blocked all view to the outside world, which made her even more curious.

Just as she was about to casually walk towards the window to get a better view, she heard a whispering come from behind her.

*****

"Liz…" Maria whispered as loudly as possible. "GOD!! Will she ever stop staring at Max and realize that her best friend needs her?" thought Maria. At last, Liz turned around.

"What now Maria?" Liz asked.

"Is he still here?"

"Yes, if he wasn’t I wouldn’t let you ditch me and sit in the closet. … But seriously, he looks fine. Happy almost."

"Michael, look happy? Are you crazy?" Maria knew Michael better than almost anyone, but EVERYONE knew that Michael went through great pains not to show his emotions.

"Oh, just sniff your oils and I’ll go work for you and take all your tips." Liz thought that this whole situation was silly. Why couldn’t Maria just admit to herself that she liked him?

*****

Kyle sat in the corner of The Crashdown listening to his football buddies babble on about the upcoming weekend. They had a huge party planned at this abandoned shack they had found while whomping through the desert in their trucks last week. Kyle honestly though, could care less. He was lost in thought, which hardly ever happened to him. His preoccupation did not go unnoticed.

Jason brought Kyle back to the real world. "Hey man! What crawled up your ass?…Kyle, aren’t you listening to anything we’re saying? This party was YOUR idea you know!"

Sometimes Jason has no tact, but Kyle had to admit that he was right. He was acting like a dick again. "I’m sorry guys, I just have girl problems on my mind," he apologized.

"What you’ve got to do my man is get back in the game! Find a new chick, get her in the sack and you will feel so much better, and that’s the best advice you will get anywhere!"

"Maybe he’s right… maybe all I need is a new girl. But I'm tired of all the girls in this small town," Kyle thought, "What I need is some mystery girl."

*****

Isabel was thoroughly bored. She hated sitting in here with all the jocks across the restaurant leering at her. But she knew that Max liked to visit Liz and she did want to give Michael all the support he needed, although he seemed to be doing just fine. She hastily turned the page on her fashion magazine.

"God, won't these bellbottoms ever go out of style," she muttered to herself.

*****

Max was in the middle of a sentence when a black SUV pulled up outside. Immediately he realized that he didn’t recognize it, which worried him. As habit, he pretty much knew who was who and the cars around town. A new car meant a new person and well they haven’t had that much luck with new people lately. Just look at Ms. Topolsky, the last new person they had had. She ended up being an FBI agent.

Just then the driver’s door opened up and a young woman stepped out. For lack of better words, she looked like a model. She was dressed in tight black leather pants that rode low on her waist to show off her belly button ring and black, tribal looking tattoo of a butterfly on her lower back. She also had on a tight short pink tank top with matching pink shoes. He watched her step onto the sidewalk and lower her sunglasses to read the sign on the café.

Guiltily he glanced over at Liz to see if she saw him ogling that girl.

*****

Michael didn’t know what to do. He had never felt like this before. He wanted to be mad at Maria, but he cared for her too much to be. But he knew that it was over. It was just a feeling that he had but he knew it was the truth. All he wanted to do was make the pain go away.

Just at that moment the door opened and in walked the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his whole life. She was perfect in every way, from her long straight blond hair to her lucious red lips. "This just might be the way to get Maria off my mind," he smiled to himself.

*****

Brittany was not prepared for the crowd of teenagers inside when she opened the door. She slowly took off her sunglasses and surveyed her surroundings. The restaurant itself was kinda tacky but tolerable. She shook her hair out carefully to get the dust out from her long car trip. As she was finishing, she heard a whistle come from somewhere to her left. Glancing over she saw what was obviously the jocks of the local high school. She made a mental note NOT to become a cheerleader for these dimwits.

Casually she walked through the restaurant all the way to the back where the bar was set up. The waitress looked about her age, and Brittany noticed she looked kinda frazzled.

"Hi, what can I get you today? Would you like to try any of our specials? We have the new alien smoothie with fresh strawberries in it today," the waitress absent-mindedly said. Brit followed her stare to land on a very cute looking guy in a side booth.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Brit asked.

"Kinda, we like each other and all, I think, but its just that we are so different." The waitress suddenly turned very red and stammered an apology, "I’m sorry, you don’t want to hear my life story, I don’t know what got into me."

"That’s okay. I'm new here and you are the first person to talk to me, it kinda made me feel a little bit welcome. I'm Brittany, but my friends call me Brit."

"Liz. Nice to meet you Brit." Liz smiled.

"It looks like you are a little short handed, do you need another waitress?"

"You need a job?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, I moved here by myself and I need all the money I can get…. And a place to stay. Do you know of any really cheap apartments?"

"Well I could use some extra help around here, my main help is always in the closet… never mind. As for the living situation, there’s really not all that much available here in Roswell. Believe me, my friend was just looking. Everything was either taken or too expensive. But we finally found him one. Its a little steep in price though."

"I can work whenever you need me to. By the way does your friend need a roommate? You know to help bring the expenses down?"

*****

Liz liked Brit. She really did. This girl was sweet and seemed to really need a friend. So Liz took a deep breath and walked over to Max’s table.

"Hey Liz," Max shyly said.

"Hi Max…. Michael can I talk to you for a sec?" Liz felt kinda nervous, waiting for Michael to make some sarcastic or rude comment about not caring about Maria anymore so she added, "It has nothing to do with Maria." She saw the skepticism in his face as he stood up and followed her over to the bar.

*****

Max was shocked. He didn’t think that Liz was interested in Michael or anything but he still felt a little disappointed that she couldn’t talk to Michael in front of him. He watched as she talked quietly to him alone and then introduced him to the mystery girl sitting at the bar.

"Jealous?" Isabel taunted.

"No." He glanced at her face and knew he couldn’t fool her, "Well, okay, a little bit."

Isabel straightened up and Max turned around to see Michael heading back.

"So Michael, what was that all about?" Is asked.

"I have a roommate," he replied.