Maria pulled on a tight, white tank top to go with the short denim skirt and black thigh-high boots she was wearing. She stepped in front of her full-length mirror and frowned in disapproval at what she saw. How was Michael going to realize how he couldn't live without her if her hair wasn't perfect, and her shirt was the wrong color? And was that a zit forming on her temple? "Stop it," she scolded herself out loud. Over-analyzing things was something those so-called 'teen actors' with thesaurus-like vocabularies on Dawson's Creek did. Not her-no way. Michael wouldn't care about a stray hair or even a zit. That's what being a teen was about. Well, that and figuring out where you belong. Nevertheless, Maria smoothed back her hair, and fixed it up with a clip, and threw off her white tank, exchanging it for a screaming orange one. This time when she looked in the mirror, she smiled at herself in mild approval. Not much more she could do. She applied a coat of her favorite lip gloss, and grabbed a denim jacket off her bed.
Maria made her way through the living room, and was halfway through the door when her mom called her. "Maria, honey, are you going out?" Amy DeLuca's voice called from the kitchen. Maria sighed.
"Yeah, mom, I'm just going to the Crashdown," she called back, her voice laced with annoyance. Maria was 17 years old. It's not like she was a child, and her mom needed to know exactly where she went and when. Besides, this was Roswell, New Mexico. Nothing happened here. Well---at least nothing her mom needed to know about. It wasn't until a year ago that she even knew the danger that surrounded Roswell. "Is Sheriff Valenti coming over?"
"Jim. Call him Jim, no need for formalities. And, yes, he'll be arriving really soon. Tell him to come right in," he mother smiled self-consciously. "How do I look?"
Maria smiled at that. Middle age and still as self-concious as a teenager. "Great mom. I gotta go."
Amy nodded. "Thanks."
Maria left the house, and noticed Sheriff Valenti walking up to the front stoop.
"Hello Maria," he greeted her.
"Uh-hey Sher-Jim," she corrected herself. Her mom would be so proud. But he'd always be Sheriff Valenti to her...no matter what. It was weird, and made her mouth feel awkward calling him by anything else. "Mom says go right in."
Valenti nodded. "So, how's everything?" She knew what he meant by everything. He meant had any thing alien happened occurred lately.
"Good. Nothing's really happened lately."
"You can call me if you ever...need any help. You all can."
"Thanks," Maria replied, and Valenti continued his way up to the house.
Maria slumped down into her tiny red jetta, and slammed the door behind her. She squeezed her eyes shut and gave a loud sigh. Not in a million years was she going to like the idea of her mother dating. It was like this wrong, foreign concept...but it was happening. At least she approved of the man. Valenti had more than proved himself by now. To think this time last year she'd been terrified of the guy! And now she completely trusted him, with her life, with her friends lives...but did she trust him with her mother?
She thrust her keys into the ignition, and turned. The little car coughed weakly, and sputtered out.
"No, please..." She begged softly under her breath. As if that would help. As if any miracle could happen to her. This is the last thing she needed.
All her life, she'd felt surrounded in a friendly, safe atmosphere of the regular people and alien tourist traps. Just a way to scam money out of the Scully-and-Mulder wannabes. Everyone in Roswell just knew that the alien crash story was a big fat hoax. Yeah, right, sure, aliens landed here...Whatever. It seemed it would be the last place on earth that you would find a real live alien...but she had. When her best friend, Liz Parker had been shot and fatally wounded, Liz had been healed by one. Actually, it wasn't even just one. It had been 3. And then 4. And then 5...and now...who knows how many of them were walking among them? It almost scared her to think about it. Sure, Max and Isabel Evans, Tess Harding and Michael Guerin were what you might call friendly aliens...But that Nasedo gave her the creeps. And now there was these enemies, walking around, plotting to kill all the good aliens.
It was not just scary, it was confusing. Like the whole 'destined to be with each other' thing. That was something none of the aliens wanted to pursue, or even think about. Except maybe Tess. Tess had shown up out of no where and was perfectly happy to steal Max away from Liz. But Max didn't want Tess. He loved Liz. And Maria loved Michael...And she knew he loved her back. He'd said so. And she's held onto that all summer when he was ignoring her phone calls and avoiding her. Making sure he was always too busy to talk to her. Most chicks would have given up by now. But she was teflon, and yeah, it hurt...but Michael was worth the fight. She had will-power and Maria was sick of him ignoring her...he was going to at least talk to her whether he liked it or not. At least they both were working tonight at the Crashdown. The alien-themed restaurant which was smack dab in the center of Roswell, and also was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Parker, Liz's parents. As soon as she was old enough, they'd offered her and Liz jobs there. Of course, she'd taken it. Good pay, good food, and working with your best friend. How could anyone say no?
She cranked the ignition again, desperately hoping, praying that it might possibly work. No such luck. She sighed, and climbed out of the car. Looks like Maria DeLuca would be walking to work tonight. Not that it was bad to walk-she could use the exercise anyway. The Crashdown wasn't too far, but she was definitely going to be late for work. She glanced down at her bright yellow watch, and sighed. 15 minutes late.
A warm gust of air pushed past Maria, and she shivered slightly, pulling her jacket tighter around her. The sound of her footsteps echoed softly onto the pavement of the dark, lonely street. A car passed slowly, the headlights brushing by her, then leaving her in the shadows and darkness again. Why am I so freaked? She asked herself, and then turned, looking behind her cautiously. There's nothing to be afraid of. You have walked these streets a million times, they're familiar. You know them better than the back of your hand. And nothing has ever happened to you. But that was before the Skins. The Skins-could the name be any creepier? But that's exactly what they were. They were aliens wearing human husks, or something like that. Ew. The thought of that alone, messed with her imagination.
A shrill ring sounded, and Maria must have jumped a foot into the air. What was that? The ringing continued until she regained her senses and realized it was coming from her small purse. She reached into her bag, and pulled out the small black cell phone she carried with her for emergencies. Or, at least, it was supposed to be for emergencies. She had a lot of emergencies. Maria took a long deep breath as the phone continued ringing, and then flipped it on.
"Hello?"
"Where the hell are you?" Michael's rude voice said.
"Well hello to you too, space boy," she snapped.
"You were supposed to be here about 10 minutes ago." He stated matter-a-factly.
"Since when have you cared?"
"Since The Crashdown has been flooded with people, and because of you and Liz, we're short 2 waitresses."
Two waitresses? Wasn't Liz working tonight too? Was something wrong? "Two? What happened to Liz?" The concern brewed in her stomach, making it do weird flip-flops.
"Liz is sick, or something. Look, I don't know, just get here," he ordered and hung up. The sound of the dailtone rang in Maria's ear, and she closed her cell phone. Liz is sick? Weird. And even if she is sick, she never misses work...Oh well. Maria sighed. She'd just have to go get Liz some more echinacia. Maria's boots caught on something, and she tripped slightly, but steadied herself before she hit the ground. Who had she thought she was wearing those boots? They weren't work compatible! They were impractical, and expensive, not to mention uncomfortable. But they also made her look like she had the killer calves she'd always dreamed of. And it was worth the pain if she could achieve making Michael crazy for her.
She turned the corner, onto the main strip, and saw Max's jeep parked outside of the UFO Museum. He must be at work, she thought silently. Maybe she'd stop by on her shift. But only if Michael was being a jerk-which was pretty much always. She could see Brody. Brody was great when she need a quick happy boost. It was obviously he was completely gone on her, but it wasn't mutual. She didn't love Brody. Sure, Brody was a great man. Man being the key word. The guy wasn't in high school. He wasn't even a college student. He had a daughter, and a business, and millions-or was it billions?---of dollars. She couldn't believe she'd gone so far as to thinking of marrying him! But her heart had ached so bad for him and poor Sydney. She needed to do something. And she had. Not directly of course, but Max had healed Sydney, and the other children. It was a Christmas miracle. Maybe she could go see Brody right now. It's not like Michael would really whine less if she was even later. No. No she had to go to work. Pull yourself together DeLuca, you got a long shift ahead of you...
Maria entered the Crashdown to see Agnes lounging at the counter, and about a dozen people scattered around the restaurant. Okay, so Michael had exaggerated...She walked out into the kitchen. Michael was busy flipping burgers.
"Where the hell were you?" He demanded, as he flipped a meat patty on the grill. It sizzled softly, a puff of smoke rising from it.
She shrugged carelessly. "Car trouble."
"What? I just gave you a new bumper! And I looked at the Jetta only a month ago."
"I know, can you believe that? But I don't know what it was. What do you think?" she asked.
Michael shook his head. "Beats me. I'll take a look at it later, okay?"
"Thanks," she smiled at him. A pure, happy Maria smile. He grinned back slightly. He was being nice. Michael was being nice. This was...nice. She knew he could be civil. In fact, Michael Guerin had been actually acting half decent since Christmas when he'd surprised her with those beautiful earrings. She hadn't expected much from him. Maybe some lame gift, that she'd of course exchange. But those earrings...Wow. There was no other way to describe them...
"Stop standing here, get changed," he mumbled gruffly, completely ruining the nice warm and fuzzy moment. Whatever, dude. She had other things to do than care about Mr. Mood-swings. He'd come around. It was just the whole Michael complex thing. Liz had explained it to her. Something about overcompensating to mask his insecurities...
Liz. That's what she needed to do. Liz was number one priority at the moment. "Manage without me, I'm checking on Liz." She walked away, towards the stairs.
"What? No!" Maria climbed the stairs that lead to the Parker household. "Maria!" She could hear Michael yelling angrily behind her. Maria smiled, and stifled a giggle.
She opened the door to the Parker household. They never locked that door since it only lead into the restaurant. There was no sense ringing the bell, she was like family anyway. Maria closed the door behind herself. "Hello?" She called into the quietness. "Mr. Parker? Mrs. Parker?...Liz?"
Mrs. Parker appeared from the kitchen. "Oh, Maria," she ushered her in. "Liz is in her room."
"Thanks," Maria smiled, and walked through the living room where she saw Mr. Parker watching the news on the television set. The man was so absorbed with ESPN he didn't even look up.
"Liz?" She called, knocking softly on the door.
"Come in," came a muffled reply, and Maria entered. Liz sat up in bed, head propped up by pillow. She wore a pair of patterned pajamas, and a book lay beside her. On the bedstand sat a half full glass of orange juice.
"Hey Lizzie," Maria greeted Liz cheerfully, plopping down on the bed beside her best friend. She picked up the book, and flipped through the pages quickly. Long and boring probably. That's a Liz kind of book. She turned it over to look at the front cover. "Steinback?"
Liz nodded, tucking a strand if stray hair behind her ear. "Max. He loves him."
Maria nodded knowingly. It was so hard for Liz, lying to Max. Giving up her true love to save everyone else. Maria was in awe of Liz, she was one courageous girl. "How's all with you and Max?"
"We're...Dealing. It's hard starting again after we've been through so much together. I just want to be with him again so badly. It tears me up inside, seeing everything happen this way." Maria nodded, and hugged her friend.
"Everything will be okay Liz. I know that." Liz bit her lip, and looked down. "It will, babe," Maria continued softly. "Sure, on TV the people whole are totally in love and are soulmates or whatever never work out," Maria realized she'd just delivered a blow to Liz, when a pained expression crossed the other girl's sad face. Still, Maria continued. "But you know, it's different with you and Max. Nothing fabricated by some writer can compare to what you guys have. What you'll always have. You and him are made for each other, and are going to be together eventually, whether you lie to him or not."
"I hope you're right," Liz replied softly. But she defiantly didn't look convinced. In fact, she looked to be ready to start crying uncontrollably.
"How are you feeling?" Maria asked, hoping a quick change in subject would help.
"Awful," Liz admitted. "But I'll be okay." She glanced at the clock. "Don't you have work?"
Maria nodded, a sly grin playing on her lips. "A while ago."
"Maria!" Liz cried in that tone, making Maria swear that Liz was somehow her mother's long-lost twin.
"Alright, Alright!" Maria raised her body off the bed, and stretched. "You got me. I'm going. You have fun with your book. And keep your mind off the Max deal."
Liz nodded. "I will," she promised Maria solemnly. Though, it was impossible to follow through, Maria knew that, she wasn't stupid. "Thanks Maria."
"Bye Liz," Maria called, exiting her friend's room, and quietly slipping out of the house, down to the Crashdown Café.
Maria approached a middle-aged gentleman at table 6, with an I'm-a-happy-waitress smile across her mouth. She pulled out the alien head pen and order book from the front pocket of her uniform's apron. "Hi, welcome to The Crashdown, what can I get for you?"
The man looked up, directly at Maria. Then his eyes looked at her, up and down. Gross. Maria did her best not to shudder. Okay, creepy guy, 12 o'clock, she thought inside her head. It was so icky when the middle aged men checked her out. But it happened a lot. Thank God that most of them didn't take it farther. Occasionally one of particularly perverted men would hit on her, or say something quite crude, but mostly they were just tourists passing through, looking for a little eye-candy. That's what she was to them. It totally made her feel all gross and dirty, but what could she do?
"Do you want to hear our specials?"
The man cleared his throat loudly, and glanced at the menu. "N-no, I'll just have," he coughed. "I'll have a cup of coffee."
Real specific buddy. Obviously he wasn't into the cheesy alien-themed nicknames or he would have asked for an Alien jolt. Or, whatever coffee was called lately. "Regular or Decaf?"
"Regular."
"Okay, anything else I can get you sir?" Maria asked politely. Even if he was a perv, she had to be polite. After all, tips were nice. Tips are always good. But there was something vaguely familiar about this man. Like she'd met him before. Maybe he'd come to the café a long time ago? Whoever he was, he sure seemed nervous. It was just coffee, nothing to get nervous about. Any second now it looked as if the guy would start shaking. Coffee was probably the last thing he needed.
"No," he smiled briefly, and then glanced out the window. Maria rolled her eyes, and started off towards the kitchen to grab the coffee pot.
After her shift was over, Maria walked home, down the same streets she'd walked there when she'd being traveling to the Crashdown. The same familiar feelings gripped her, and her stomach did an uneasy flip-flop. She sped up a little, hoping to get home before her imagination got the better of her. She turned and glanced behind her, and sped up a little bit more. The creepiness feeling grew...And suddenly she had collided with something.
Not something. Someone. The jolt knocked her purse down to the ground. "I'm sorry," she exclaimed, "I wasn't looking." She didn't look at the person as she bent down to pick up her scattered belongings.
"No, I'm sorry" the man replied. He kneeled down to help her. Maria glanced at him, and was shocked to see the man who had been drinking a years supply of coffee earlier that night. She stared at him for a moment, and then tore her gaze away to stuff her things into her purse, then stood quickly. It was bad enough that the roads were freaking her, now coffee man was here too. And why did he still look do familiar?
He rose and handed her a small pink hairbrush which she shoved into her bag. "Thanks," she mumbled. That man was just so familiar. "This is, uh, really weird, I know, but...Do I know you from someplace?" She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
The man nodded slowly. "Maria," he started. How did he know my name? The thought plowed into her head. Then she realized she had been wearing a name tag. But she could never have been ready to hear what he had to say next. "I'm your father."
Maria made her way through the living room, and was halfway through the door when her mom called her. "Maria, honey, are you going out?" Amy DeLuca's voice called from the kitchen. Maria sighed.
"Yeah, mom, I'm just going to the Crashdown," she called back, her voice laced with annoyance. Maria was 17 years old. It's not like she was a child, and her mom needed to know exactly where she went and when. Besides, this was Roswell, New Mexico. Nothing happened here. Well---at least nothing her mom needed to know about. It wasn't until a year ago that she even knew the danger that surrounded Roswell. "Is Sheriff Valenti coming over?"
"Jim. Call him Jim, no need for formalities. And, yes, he'll be arriving really soon. Tell him to come right in," he mother smiled self-consciously. "How do I look?"
Maria smiled at that. Middle age and still as self-concious as a teenager. "Great mom. I gotta go."
Amy nodded. "Thanks."
Maria left the house, and noticed Sheriff Valenti walking up to the front stoop.
"Hello Maria," he greeted her.
"Uh-hey Sher-Jim," she corrected herself. Her mom would be so proud. But he'd always be Sheriff Valenti to her...no matter what. It was weird, and made her mouth feel awkward calling him by anything else. "Mom says go right in."
Valenti nodded. "So, how's everything?" She knew what he meant by everything. He meant had any thing alien happened occurred lately.
"Good. Nothing's really happened lately."
"You can call me if you ever...need any help. You all can."
"Thanks," Maria replied, and Valenti continued his way up to the house.
Maria slumped down into her tiny red jetta, and slammed the door behind her. She squeezed her eyes shut and gave a loud sigh. Not in a million years was she going to like the idea of her mother dating. It was like this wrong, foreign concept...but it was happening. At least she approved of the man. Valenti had more than proved himself by now. To think this time last year she'd been terrified of the guy! And now she completely trusted him, with her life, with her friends lives...but did she trust him with her mother?
She thrust her keys into the ignition, and turned. The little car coughed weakly, and sputtered out.
"No, please..." She begged softly under her breath. As if that would help. As if any miracle could happen to her. This is the last thing she needed.
All her life, she'd felt surrounded in a friendly, safe atmosphere of the regular people and alien tourist traps. Just a way to scam money out of the Scully-and-Mulder wannabes. Everyone in Roswell just knew that the alien crash story was a big fat hoax. Yeah, right, sure, aliens landed here...Whatever. It seemed it would be the last place on earth that you would find a real live alien...but she had. When her best friend, Liz Parker had been shot and fatally wounded, Liz had been healed by one. Actually, it wasn't even just one. It had been 3. And then 4. And then 5...and now...who knows how many of them were walking among them? It almost scared her to think about it. Sure, Max and Isabel Evans, Tess Harding and Michael Guerin were what you might call friendly aliens...But that Nasedo gave her the creeps. And now there was these enemies, walking around, plotting to kill all the good aliens.
It was not just scary, it was confusing. Like the whole 'destined to be with each other' thing. That was something none of the aliens wanted to pursue, or even think about. Except maybe Tess. Tess had shown up out of no where and was perfectly happy to steal Max away from Liz. But Max didn't want Tess. He loved Liz. And Maria loved Michael...And she knew he loved her back. He'd said so. And she's held onto that all summer when he was ignoring her phone calls and avoiding her. Making sure he was always too busy to talk to her. Most chicks would have given up by now. But she was teflon, and yeah, it hurt...but Michael was worth the fight. She had will-power and Maria was sick of him ignoring her...he was going to at least talk to her whether he liked it or not. At least they both were working tonight at the Crashdown. The alien-themed restaurant which was smack dab in the center of Roswell, and also was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Parker, Liz's parents. As soon as she was old enough, they'd offered her and Liz jobs there. Of course, she'd taken it. Good pay, good food, and working with your best friend. How could anyone say no?
She cranked the ignition again, desperately hoping, praying that it might possibly work. No such luck. She sighed, and climbed out of the car. Looks like Maria DeLuca would be walking to work tonight. Not that it was bad to walk-she could use the exercise anyway. The Crashdown wasn't too far, but she was definitely going to be late for work. She glanced down at her bright yellow watch, and sighed. 15 minutes late.
A warm gust of air pushed past Maria, and she shivered slightly, pulling her jacket tighter around her. The sound of her footsteps echoed softly onto the pavement of the dark, lonely street. A car passed slowly, the headlights brushing by her, then leaving her in the shadows and darkness again. Why am I so freaked? She asked herself, and then turned, looking behind her cautiously. There's nothing to be afraid of. You have walked these streets a million times, they're familiar. You know them better than the back of your hand. And nothing has ever happened to you. But that was before the Skins. The Skins-could the name be any creepier? But that's exactly what they were. They were aliens wearing human husks, or something like that. Ew. The thought of that alone, messed with her imagination.
A shrill ring sounded, and Maria must have jumped a foot into the air. What was that? The ringing continued until she regained her senses and realized it was coming from her small purse. She reached into her bag, and pulled out the small black cell phone she carried with her for emergencies. Or, at least, it was supposed to be for emergencies. She had a lot of emergencies. Maria took a long deep breath as the phone continued ringing, and then flipped it on.
"Hello?"
"Where the hell are you?" Michael's rude voice said.
"Well hello to you too, space boy," she snapped.
"You were supposed to be here about 10 minutes ago." He stated matter-a-factly.
"Since when have you cared?"
"Since The Crashdown has been flooded with people, and because of you and Liz, we're short 2 waitresses."
Two waitresses? Wasn't Liz working tonight too? Was something wrong? "Two? What happened to Liz?" The concern brewed in her stomach, making it do weird flip-flops.
"Liz is sick, or something. Look, I don't know, just get here," he ordered and hung up. The sound of the dailtone rang in Maria's ear, and she closed her cell phone. Liz is sick? Weird. And even if she is sick, she never misses work...Oh well. Maria sighed. She'd just have to go get Liz some more echinacia. Maria's boots caught on something, and she tripped slightly, but steadied herself before she hit the ground. Who had she thought she was wearing those boots? They weren't work compatible! They were impractical, and expensive, not to mention uncomfortable. But they also made her look like she had the killer calves she'd always dreamed of. And it was worth the pain if she could achieve making Michael crazy for her.
She turned the corner, onto the main strip, and saw Max's jeep parked outside of the UFO Museum. He must be at work, she thought silently. Maybe she'd stop by on her shift. But only if Michael was being a jerk-which was pretty much always. She could see Brody. Brody was great when she need a quick happy boost. It was obviously he was completely gone on her, but it wasn't mutual. She didn't love Brody. Sure, Brody was a great man. Man being the key word. The guy wasn't in high school. He wasn't even a college student. He had a daughter, and a business, and millions-or was it billions?---of dollars. She couldn't believe she'd gone so far as to thinking of marrying him! But her heart had ached so bad for him and poor Sydney. She needed to do something. And she had. Not directly of course, but Max had healed Sydney, and the other children. It was a Christmas miracle. Maybe she could go see Brody right now. It's not like Michael would really whine less if she was even later. No. No she had to go to work. Pull yourself together DeLuca, you got a long shift ahead of you...
Maria entered the Crashdown to see Agnes lounging at the counter, and about a dozen people scattered around the restaurant. Okay, so Michael had exaggerated...She walked out into the kitchen. Michael was busy flipping burgers.
"Where the hell were you?" He demanded, as he flipped a meat patty on the grill. It sizzled softly, a puff of smoke rising from it.
She shrugged carelessly. "Car trouble."
"What? I just gave you a new bumper! And I looked at the Jetta only a month ago."
"I know, can you believe that? But I don't know what it was. What do you think?" she asked.
Michael shook his head. "Beats me. I'll take a look at it later, okay?"
"Thanks," she smiled at him. A pure, happy Maria smile. He grinned back slightly. He was being nice. Michael was being nice. This was...nice. She knew he could be civil. In fact, Michael Guerin had been actually acting half decent since Christmas when he'd surprised her with those beautiful earrings. She hadn't expected much from him. Maybe some lame gift, that she'd of course exchange. But those earrings...Wow. There was no other way to describe them...
"Stop standing here, get changed," he mumbled gruffly, completely ruining the nice warm and fuzzy moment. Whatever, dude. She had other things to do than care about Mr. Mood-swings. He'd come around. It was just the whole Michael complex thing. Liz had explained it to her. Something about overcompensating to mask his insecurities...
Liz. That's what she needed to do. Liz was number one priority at the moment. "Manage without me, I'm checking on Liz." She walked away, towards the stairs.
"What? No!" Maria climbed the stairs that lead to the Parker household. "Maria!" She could hear Michael yelling angrily behind her. Maria smiled, and stifled a giggle.
She opened the door to the Parker household. They never locked that door since it only lead into the restaurant. There was no sense ringing the bell, she was like family anyway. Maria closed the door behind herself. "Hello?" She called into the quietness. "Mr. Parker? Mrs. Parker?...Liz?"
Mrs. Parker appeared from the kitchen. "Oh, Maria," she ushered her in. "Liz is in her room."
"Thanks," Maria smiled, and walked through the living room where she saw Mr. Parker watching the news on the television set. The man was so absorbed with ESPN he didn't even look up.
"Liz?" She called, knocking softly on the door.
"Come in," came a muffled reply, and Maria entered. Liz sat up in bed, head propped up by pillow. She wore a pair of patterned pajamas, and a book lay beside her. On the bedstand sat a half full glass of orange juice.
"Hey Lizzie," Maria greeted Liz cheerfully, plopping down on the bed beside her best friend. She picked up the book, and flipped through the pages quickly. Long and boring probably. That's a Liz kind of book. She turned it over to look at the front cover. "Steinback?"
Liz nodded, tucking a strand if stray hair behind her ear. "Max. He loves him."
Maria nodded knowingly. It was so hard for Liz, lying to Max. Giving up her true love to save everyone else. Maria was in awe of Liz, she was one courageous girl. "How's all with you and Max?"
"We're...Dealing. It's hard starting again after we've been through so much together. I just want to be with him again so badly. It tears me up inside, seeing everything happen this way." Maria nodded, and hugged her friend.
"Everything will be okay Liz. I know that." Liz bit her lip, and looked down. "It will, babe," Maria continued softly. "Sure, on TV the people whole are totally in love and are soulmates or whatever never work out," Maria realized she'd just delivered a blow to Liz, when a pained expression crossed the other girl's sad face. Still, Maria continued. "But you know, it's different with you and Max. Nothing fabricated by some writer can compare to what you guys have. What you'll always have. You and him are made for each other, and are going to be together eventually, whether you lie to him or not."
"I hope you're right," Liz replied softly. But she defiantly didn't look convinced. In fact, she looked to be ready to start crying uncontrollably.
"How are you feeling?" Maria asked, hoping a quick change in subject would help.
"Awful," Liz admitted. "But I'll be okay." She glanced at the clock. "Don't you have work?"
Maria nodded, a sly grin playing on her lips. "A while ago."
"Maria!" Liz cried in that tone, making Maria swear that Liz was somehow her mother's long-lost twin.
"Alright, Alright!" Maria raised her body off the bed, and stretched. "You got me. I'm going. You have fun with your book. And keep your mind off the Max deal."
Liz nodded. "I will," she promised Maria solemnly. Though, it was impossible to follow through, Maria knew that, she wasn't stupid. "Thanks Maria."
"Bye Liz," Maria called, exiting her friend's room, and quietly slipping out of the house, down to the Crashdown Café.
Maria approached a middle-aged gentleman at table 6, with an I'm-a-happy-waitress smile across her mouth. She pulled out the alien head pen and order book from the front pocket of her uniform's apron. "Hi, welcome to The Crashdown, what can I get for you?"
The man looked up, directly at Maria. Then his eyes looked at her, up and down. Gross. Maria did her best not to shudder. Okay, creepy guy, 12 o'clock, she thought inside her head. It was so icky when the middle aged men checked her out. But it happened a lot. Thank God that most of them didn't take it farther. Occasionally one of particularly perverted men would hit on her, or say something quite crude, but mostly they were just tourists passing through, looking for a little eye-candy. That's what she was to them. It totally made her feel all gross and dirty, but what could she do?
"Do you want to hear our specials?"
The man cleared his throat loudly, and glanced at the menu. "N-no, I'll just have," he coughed. "I'll have a cup of coffee."
Real specific buddy. Obviously he wasn't into the cheesy alien-themed nicknames or he would have asked for an Alien jolt. Or, whatever coffee was called lately. "Regular or Decaf?"
"Regular."
"Okay, anything else I can get you sir?" Maria asked politely. Even if he was a perv, she had to be polite. After all, tips were nice. Tips are always good. But there was something vaguely familiar about this man. Like she'd met him before. Maybe he'd come to the café a long time ago? Whoever he was, he sure seemed nervous. It was just coffee, nothing to get nervous about. Any second now it looked as if the guy would start shaking. Coffee was probably the last thing he needed.
"No," he smiled briefly, and then glanced out the window. Maria rolled her eyes, and started off towards the kitchen to grab the coffee pot.
After her shift was over, Maria walked home, down the same streets she'd walked there when she'd being traveling to the Crashdown. The same familiar feelings gripped her, and her stomach did an uneasy flip-flop. She sped up a little, hoping to get home before her imagination got the better of her. She turned and glanced behind her, and sped up a little bit more. The creepiness feeling grew...And suddenly she had collided with something.
Not something. Someone. The jolt knocked her purse down to the ground. "I'm sorry," she exclaimed, "I wasn't looking." She didn't look at the person as she bent down to pick up her scattered belongings.
"No, I'm sorry" the man replied. He kneeled down to help her. Maria glanced at him, and was shocked to see the man who had been drinking a years supply of coffee earlier that night. She stared at him for a moment, and then tore her gaze away to stuff her things into her purse, then stood quickly. It was bad enough that the roads were freaking her, now coffee man was here too. And why did he still look do familiar?
He rose and handed her a small pink hairbrush which she shoved into her bag. "Thanks," she mumbled. That man was just so familiar. "This is, uh, really weird, I know, but...Do I know you from someplace?" She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
The man nodded slowly. "Maria," he started. How did he know my name? The thought plowed into her head. Then she realized she had been wearing a name tag. But she could never have been ready to hear what he had to say next. "I'm your father."