Bound With Stars

by Melpomene blue

The pod squad and the ever burgeoning I-know-an-alien-club are swirled into a whirlwind of confusion.

1. displaced dreams

Title: Bound With Stars

Author: Melpomene

Email:  Melpomene@stories.com or Melpomene@addlebrain.com

Rating: PG

Category: Oh let's see… lets do a little UC this time with M/M (why did the writers ever give 3 of the main characters names that begin with the same letter?)

Spoilers: Nada, not a one

Distribution/Archive: I never care where they go as long as I know where they are so that I can check in on them periodically.  Just call me an over-protective mother and leave it at that (my son would agree wholeheartedly on that call).

Disclaimer: I refuse to deny that I own them anymore…

I lost a World - the other day!

Has Anybody found?

You'll know it by the Row of Stars

Around its forehead bound…

~Emily Dickinson (c. 1860)

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Bound With Stars

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"Hey, sleepyhead!  Wake up!"

Maria snatched the pillow from Liz's hands before she could continue to pummel her with it and shoved it beneath her head.  Her eyes remained firmly closed against the bright morning sunlight that flooded Liz's bedroom.  Rethinking her initial placement of the pillow, Maria retrieved it from beneath her head and used it instead to block out the bright light, pressing it against her cheek with her arm.

"Come on, Maria.  Get up," Liz insisted, softly chuckling at her friend's futile attempt to reclaim the night and nudging her gently in the ribs.  It was rare that they had a weekend off together, rarer still that one or the other of them would sleep over, and Liz was unwavering in her insistence to enjoy the day to its fullest.  Besides, she hadn't been the one who made plans for so early on a Saturday.

"I remember now why I don't spend the night with you anymore," Maria mumbled through the downy pillow that covered her face. 

"Maria!"

"I'm up, I'm up," she insisted, rolling over but managing to keep her head firmly ensconced between the pillows.

"Sure you are."  Liz wandered toward the bathroom.  She threw one last look over her shoulder at her best friend who was obviously drifting off to sleep again and shook her head in silent amusement.

~~~

Maria sat on a flat, sun-warmed slab of sandstone, staring out across the rough landscape that surrounded the town in which she had grown up.  She wasn't sure where she was but she had been there before, she was certain of that.

The sun was deliciously warm on her skin and she stretched out her bare legs against the scratchy surface of the rock, dropping her head back so that all she could see was the flawless blue sky that was stretched out above the desert.  She closed her eyes momentarily, breathing deeply the dry, clean air and relishing the familiar scents that surrounded her.

Her muscles felt as if they were melting into the sandstone beneath her and she gave into the sensation, allowing all the pent up tension to leave her body and seep into the sun-baked rock.

Someone was watching her.  The telltale prickle at the back of her mind caused her to lazily open her eyes to the bright glare of the summer sun.  The feeling wasn't ominous, just protective, curious, and she wasn't in a hurry to find her onlooker and possibly ruin her welcome reverie. 

Focusing on the blue expanse overhead, she watched, fascinated, as the color deepened and stars began to pierce the velvety darkness of the heavens.  As the desert fell rapidly into night, the stars brightened, the familiar band that marked the arm of the Milky Way, standing out as it belted the ever-deepening night sky.  She silently watched the stars overhead, wondering how many of them were still in existence and how many of them had long ago burned out.

"Maria?"

She turned toward the soft masculine voice that drifted to her on the teasing caress of the evening breeze.  He stood just behind her left shoulder, the heat radiating off his body and warming her arm as it supported her.  She could sense his presence almost as clearly as she heard his gentle beckoning voice.

"Maria."

She raised clear green eyes to capture the sight of the boy who stood behind her on the rocky outcropping.  She waited for him to say more, although she knew he wouldn't, he never did.  Patiently she waited anyway as the stars above began to swirl and dance in the soft blackness of the desert night.  The tiny specks of light dipped and twirled across the sky and she watched them lazily, their sudden dance of no more consequence than the sly lizard who had crawled across her foot to lie contentedly along one smooth shin.

"It's time."

She understood.  It was time.  She looked back up at him, a smile playing at her lips as he reached down to take her hand in a firm but tender grip.  He grinned in return, taking both her hands in his when she was once again standing, sending the lizard sliding haphazardly to the rocky ground.  It skittered off across the rock, as he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her waist as he leaned into her, claiming her mouth in a burning, soul-churning kiss.  Everything would be fine, they would make sure of it, it was the way of things.

~~~

"Maria!  You know, it was your idea to get an early start.  We're going to be late meeting up with the others if you don't wake up soon," Liz's voice called from the steamy depths of the bathroom.

Maria started awake, her breath ragged and too loud in her ears.  She glanced quickly at her surroundings.  Good… no desert, no dancing stars, and definitely no Max Evans.

Shutting her eyes tightly, she rubbed her hands over them, scrubbing at them with balled fists in an attempt to scour the images and feelings of the dream from her mind.  It didn't work half as well as she had hoped it would and she could still feel the lingering touch of Max's hands on her waist, the taste of his lips on hers.

"Mari-  Oh, you're up."  Startled to see her friend in a somewhat vertical position, Liz twisted a towel around her dripping hair and sat down next to her on the bed.  She looked quizzically at her friend; something was strange.  She looked the same as she had when they were children and she had swallowed a live earthworm because of a dare.  "Are you okay?"

Maria shook her head, trying again to dislodge the dream from her thoughts to no avail.  "Yeah, 'm fine," she muttered.  "I think I'll go take a shower."

Quickly slipping out from beneath the sheets, she planted her feet firmly on the floor and rose on unsteady legs.  Why couldn't she forget the dream images?  Why did she still feel the warmth of Max's hands against her skin?  And where in the hell had the dream, and all the others like it, come from in the first place?

She turned the water on in the shower and, quickly shedding her nightclothes, she stepped beneath its comforting spray.  The dream was a recurring one, but never before had she seen the face of the person behind her.  She had always assumed it was Michael, but the dream had kept his face shrouded in shadow, refusing to reveal his identity.  But she had always known, somewhere in the back of her mind, that it wasn't Michael.  The touch was different, less desperate and demanding.  And the kiss was unlike any she had experienced with Michael.  It wasn't better or worse, it just wasn't the same.

Knowing she would have to put the dream behind her if she was going to be able to face either Max or Michael later that day, she willed her mind to wander in other, less distressing, directions.  She thought about the plans they had made for the day, calculated how long they'd be stuck driving and who would probably opt to use their cars.  She even tried to concentrate on the homework she'd be putting off until Sunday night.  Anything but the dreams.

~~~

Maria sat edgily at the booth, still haunted by her dream.  Why was she dreaming about Max of all people?  What was it with her subconscious that her best-friend's boyfriend could just pop into her sleeping mind and make himself perfectly at home, that was strictly Michael's territory.  She decided to blame the whole thing of the blasted Czechoslovakians, it had to be their fault somehow or other.  She just hoped Isabel was laying off the dreamwalking thing for once.  The last thing she needed was Miss Perfect finding out about her distressing dreams; she had enough to deal with already.

"So we should just all pile into two cars to make it easier," Kyle offered around a mouthful of Crashdown pancakes.  "We'll be less likely to loose anyone with only two cars to keep track of."

Tess stirred yet another packet of sugar into her cola.  "Then we're definitely not taking your truck.  We could get, what, maybe one other person in there and I'm not going to resort to sitting on anyone's lap."

"There's always the back," he offered, grinning at her shocked expression.

"If you think I'm going to ride in the back of your truck... you're just... you're..."

He chuckled over her stuttered outrage.  "Relax, Tessie, it was a joke."

"We could always throw Maria back there, it's not like her brain actually made it here this morning.  What could it hurt?" Isabel commented, staring pointedly at the girl in question.

Maria finally jerked out of her musings to find all eyes focused on her.  "What?!  It's still early, and a Saturday, I might add.  I'm allowed to space out."

"You're the one who set the time to meet, Maria.  The least you could do is pretend to be here."

Maria glared at Isabel, irked at the haughty tone the impeccably dressed blonde had assumed, apparently she wasn't the only one of them who wasn't a morning person.

"The festival in Carlsbad opens at ten.  If we leave now, we'll be there in time for the opening parade."  Liz didn't want to start the day off with another argument between Isabel and Maria, there would be plenty of time for that as the weekend wore on.

"Great, we'll divide everyone up and leave then.  Two cars," Max said, grinning at Liz.  "Since we can't very well pile anyone in the back of Kyle's truck and since Maria is without the use of the Jetta this weekend, it looks like we're stuck taking the Jeep and Alex's car.  Isabel, why don't you ride with Alex?" he suggested.  As much fun as his sister's arguments with Maria could be to watch from afar, he didn't want to see one erupt within the close confines of the Jeep, the upholstery was in bad enough condition as it was.  "Michael and Maria can ride with me and Liz in the Jeep, and Kyle and Tess with Alex and Isabel."

Maria froze.  It was difficult enough to concentrate with a whole room full of people, what was she going to do with just two other people and Max in one car?  Briefly, she considered asking Isabel to trade seating arrangements with her but decided against it.  Her 'on again/off again' relationship with Michael was in its 'on again' phase and she didn't want to consider what her request would do to it.

 'The things I suffer through for love...' she mused, shaking her head again and rising to follow everyone else out the front door.

~~~

Liz turned around in her seat to face Maria.  "Hey, remember that game we made up the last time we had to drive out to Carrizozo for your mom?"

"Which?  Oh, the one with the license plates?  Yeah, what did we call it?  License plate truths?"

"That's the one.  You wanna?"  At Maria's nod of agreement, Liz smiled and began to explain the rules to the two males in their company.  "It's easy, sort of.  All you have to do is read off the letters of the license plates of the cars we pass and make up a phrase that's truthful about yourself.  Say I saw one that had ILM, I could say 'I loathe mushrooms' or 'I love Max'.  If the phrase is too obscure though, you have to give a little explanation."

"Come on, Spaceboy," Maria said nudging Michael in the ribs when he snorted in disbelief.  "It's fun, lighten up for a few minutes.  You know, try to act on that human part of your DNA for once."

"Who goes first?" Max asked, already watching the car they were approaching.

"The driver always goes first, and then it's just clockwise around the car," Maria answered.

"Here's one.  NFH.  Hmm.  Not from here!" Max said triumphantly after a few moments' thought.

"Cute," Maria commented, "very cute.  That's the way, Max.  Just jump right in with both feet.  Okay, Liz, you're up."

The game lasted for the majority of the trip.  When they stopped at a gas station half way to their destination, they shared their means of entertainment with the other car and both groups were engaged in playing it for the second half of the road trip.  Maria was amused when her cell phone rang at one point and Tess was on the other end of the connection.

"Hey, Maria.  I stole Isabel's phone.  You'll never guess what Kyle just came up with for BBB."

Maria laughed, this was getting to be too much.  She could hear the laughter that still filled the other car, at least everyone was in a good mood at last.  "Okay, since I really don't want to try to delve into the inner workings of Kyle's mind, why don't you tell me instead."

"Basement Buddha-boy."

"Maria, here's yours," Liz said, craning her neck to make out the letters on the plate that sped past them as Maria terminated the connection, chuckling over Tess' enthusiasm.  "MDS"

'Max, dancing stars' was the first thing that popped into her mind.  'Can't say that,' she thought, pushing the thought aside quickly.  Apparently she hadn't been quick enough because Michael looked at her questioningly.

"What is it?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Maria?" Liz glanced back at her, drawn in by Michael's tone.

"I can't... fine."  Thinking quickly, she blurted out the next thought that came into her mind, "Michael, dream seduction.  Are you happy now?"

"Yep," Liz giggled.

"I don't think we require any clarification on that one," Max said, a sly smile tugging at his lips as he rested his hand on Liz's leg.

"Good," Maria muttered, "'cause you're not getting one."

~~~

Carlsbad was bustling by the time they pulled into the hotel where they'd made reservations. 

'Two rooms for eight people, that prove to be interesting,' Maria thought.

Checking in and getting their room keys from the front desk clerk, they trudged through the parking lot to unload the overnight bags and backpacks they'd brought from Roswell.

Tess and Isabel followed Maria and Liz into their room, piling their things in a heap at the foot of one of the double beds.  Tess was more excited about the sleeping arrangements than anyone had a right to be but was quickly excused when she explained to the others that she'd missed out on sleep-overs when she was a child.  Apparently Nasedo didn't see any need for her to experience such base human activities.

"Well, we'll just have to go all-out then and make up for your lack of experience," Maria said, picking up the television guide.  "Oh look, there's a really bad horror movie on pay-per-view tonight, 'Revenge of the Prom Queen'.  Now that's a tailor made slumber party movie if I ever heard of one."

They all turned toward the door when Max stuck his head in.  "Are you settled?  The desk clerk said the parade starts in half an hour if you want to get there in time to see it."

"Yeah, we're ready."

~~~

They sat through the parade on the dusty street curb, cheering for the pint-sized T-ball teams and slightly off-key school marching bands, and collecting hands-full of candy from the overzealous float riders.  Joining in with the rest of the crowd, they followed the parade down the street to the fairgrounds where the festival was set up.  The banner that stretched across the entrance welcomed them to the eighteenth annual Carlsbad Alien Festival.

"Well, you should feel right at home, Guerin," Kyle said, eyeing the sign.

"Shut up, Kyle."

Kyle merely laughed at the casual retort, following Tess to one of the gaming booths.

Breaking off into smaller groups, they agreed to meet back at the entrance around three that afternoon for lunch.  They'd already lost Tess and Kyle to the games and Isabel and Alex wandered into a miniature planetarium, leaving the last four together.

"Come on, I see a Ferris wheel," Maria coerced them.

"I don't ride Ferris wheels," Michael stated simply.

"They make me sick," Liz admitted, turning a little green at the thought of the ride, a crooked smile brightening her face.  "But Max will ride with you.  Won't you, Max?"

He smiled at Maria.  "Sure, come on.  I usually end up having to sit out all the rides except the carousel, I'll gladly accompany you, DeLuca."

"What is it with guys and last names?" she asked, trying to make her thoughts cooperate with her reason and forget about her dreams.

"Sports."

"Oh...  You don't play any sports, Max."

He shrugged and climbed onto the ride, reaching out to offer Maria a steadying hand.  Tentatively, she accepted his assistance, knowing that if she didn't, she'd end up falling flat on her face in the rocking seat and probably land in his lap as well.  She sat down as far as she could from Max without looking like she was trying to avoid being near him, and lifted her arms so the carnival worker could secure the bar across their laps.

"I don't bite, Maria," Max said, intrigued by the distance she was obviously keeping between them.

She laughed nervously and slid a little closer to him.  If she could make it through the ride with her sanity intact, it would be a miracle.

Since they had been the first one's to get on the Ferris wheel, they had to wait patiently as the rest of the seats were filled.  Rising slowly over the fairgrounds in slow increments, Maria scanned the crowds below.  She had lost sight of Michael and Liz in the bustling waves of people and tried vainly to find them again.

"This was a good idea."

Maria turned to face Max, wondering what exactly he was speaking about.

"We all needed a break.  I didn't even know this festival existed until Liz mentioned it to me the other day."

"Oh," Maria replied, "yeah, most people don't.  Everyone in the country seems to know about the Crash Festival in Roswell but Carlsbad's little party goes pretty much unnoticed.  My mom used to come every year and operate a booth.  The shop's gotten too busy for her to get away anymore though.  I'm surprised she can still make it to the convention each year in Roswell."

She was quiet for a minute.  "This kind of stuff must be weird for you though."  Seeing his confused expression, she explained, "you know, all the little green men from outer space nonsense.  I mean, how unrealistic is that?  But I guess you can't really make a buck by saying that aliens might look like us and aren't actually out to take over the world."

Max smiled at her concern.  "I just figure it's no more distressing than using sacred religious figures as mascots, or naming cars after aboriginal tribes.  It's the portrayal of the actual crash at the Roswell festival that's hard to live with."

"Yeah, that's gotta be difficult.  But you should see my mom getting all worked up over the Redskins' blatant disregard for Native Americans.  And don't even get her started on Jeep Cherokees!"

"I'll remember that," he laughed.

When the ride finally began, Maria was pleased to find herself much more at ease with her riding companion, casually joking with him much the same as she generally did.  The dreams were forcing her to see Max in an entirely different light and she wasn't entirely comfortable with the emotions that the new Max was stirring up in her.

Jumping down from the seat at the ride's end, they set out to locate their stray partners.  Michael and Liz had disappeared though and they gave up their search when they came across another ride.

"They probably found the carousel," Max said squeezing into the seat so that Maria had enough room to join him.

"Michael on a carousel horse?  Now that would make an interesting picture."

They wound their way through the festival, standing in line for each ride they found and even trying their luck at a few of the game booths.  Maria had to suppress her laughter when she spotted Tess toting a giant inflatable purple alien across the trampled grass, Kyle loped along at her side like a happy puppy.  He'd finally found someone who could appreciate his athletic ability, even if it was only because of the growing collection of alien-themed prizes he was winning for her.

No one was more surprised than Max when he won one of the games they'd stopped to watch.  Accepting his own inflatable alien, he held the impossibly large head up next to his own.

"So, Maria, what do you think?  Is there a family resemblance?"

"You are so not funny, Evans!" she chuckled.

"For you, m'lady," he exaggerated, holding the green opalescent plastic doll out as an offering, "a gift from your most humble servant."

She laughed again, taking the alien and tucking it under her arm.  "You do realize that my mom makes these things, don't you."

He shrugged.  "You can use it as padding on the next ride," he suggested, pointing to something called the Texas Twister.

"Sounds like I'll need it."

~~~

Tess tried to peer over the heads of the people milling around her.  It was a pointless exercise, she was too short to even see over anyone's shoulder, much less their heads.  "Do you see them anywhere?  Max did say to meet at three, right?"

The six people who had clustered together at the festival's front gate all nodded.  They'd been waiting for half an hour but no one had seen either one of their stragglers.

"We left them on the Ferris wheel," Liz said, "but that was pretty long ago.  Knowing Maria, they're probably still working their way through all the rides."  She looked over at Michael, but his blank expression was no help.

"I say we give them ten more minutes and then let them find their own lunch," Alex suggested good-naturedly.

"I say we already gave them thirty minutes and I'm hungry."  Isabel's good humor was being sorely pressed by the delay in finding nourishment.  That and Tess' broad assortment of alien paraphernalia.

"Well, we can't just leave them here."

She turned to look at Liz.  "Why not?  They've got the Jeep keys; we can all pile into Alex's car and come back after we find something to eat.  It's not like we're leaving them completely stranded."

"Isabel's right," Michael agreed, "they'll figure out what we did when they realize what time it is.  Let's go."

"I can't say that Maria's being a very good influence on Max," Tess murmured, smiling at the austere Max's tardiness.

"Is Maria a good influence on anyone?" Isabel asked, unintentionally giving voice to her thoughts.  All eyes turned to look at Michael and she admitted to herself that yes, maybe she was.  Michael would have never ventured this far out of Roswell for a weekend of fun without Maria's insistent nagging.  Maybe the ditzy girl did have one or two good points after all.

~~~

"Oh, that was not fun," Maria groaned, staggering off the ride.  "Remind me to never get on something that has the words 'drop' or 'terror' in its name again."

"I'll second that," Max admitted, wanting nothing more than to sit down for a few minutes.  He spotted a lemonade stand and directed Maria over to it and the picnic tables set around it.  "Wait here, I'll get us something to drink."

It was amazing to her how different Max was from Michael.  The whole politeness issue was just such a nice change and the jokes they shared about the inflatable alien dolls weren't laced with biting sarcasm.  She set her growing family of green aliens down on the ground next to the table.  They had set out to win a second one after discovering that they did indeed provide some padding for the rides, the smaller ones had been added when she had made the comment that their little green friends certainly weren't being very prolific in their sex life.  Now their inflatable friends had a total of three 'children'.

"Here, ice cold lemonade, drink up."

She gratefully accepted the cup and guzzled half its contents before setting it down on the flaking paint of the tabletop.  "Thanks, that's exactly what I needed."  She patted her forehead with her now damp hands, relishing the breeze that helped to cool her over-heated face.  She glanced down at her watch, wondering how much longer they had to wait until meeting up with everyone else for lunch.

"Oh, shit!"

"What's wrong?"  Max immediately looked up at her, his face filled with concern.

"It's four thirty, we were supposed to meet everyone an hour and a half ago!"

"I think it's safe to assume that they probably gave up on us meeting them.  Most likely they went on without us," Max surmised.  "Come on, we'll go get some real food and try to find them after."

~~~

"I can't believe how irresponsible they're being," Isabel stated emphatically.

"It's no big deal, Is.  You know they'll both turn up eventually."  Michael watched in amusement as Isabel paced furiously.  "We came to have a good time so let's enjoy it while we can."

His statement startled Liz, not that it wasn't the truth, she just hadn't expected to hear it come out of Michael's mouth.  The fact of the matter was that she was about to offer the same suggestion.  She knew that Max and Maria were just off having fun somewhere at the festival, she didn't want to ruin anyone's good time by calling for a search party when it was most likely completely unnecessary.

"Come on, Isabel," Alex encouraged.  "Let's go see that mirror maze we walked by earlier.  It could be fun."

"Why don't we all go," Tess suggested.

"Why not..."  Kyle herded their remaining group toward the mirrored maze hoping Liz wouldn't suffer any ill effects from the over-sized toy.  He had seen her riding the carousel with Michael earlier though, so maybe she'd been able to work through the terror of Max's previous abduction scene.

~~~

"You do realize that they're gonna kill us, don't you?"

"Nah, well, maybe Isabel," Max teased.

"Great, that's just what I need.  Miss Teen Alien terrorizing both my waking and sleeping hours."

"What if I sneak into her room once we get back to Roswell and hide all her yearbooks?  At least that way she won't have a picture to use to dreamwalk you.  I can't do much about the waking moments though.  Maybe you could just stay asleep for the next few weeks."

"Max!  You are such a gentleman!"

It was late in the evening and they had been on all of the rides at least once, the Texas Twister had even seen them a grand total of three times.  The sun was just beginning to hang low on the horizon and they were both getting tired of the noise and constant movement around them.

"Come on, let's get away from the crowds for a little while," Max suggested, reaching out to take Maria's hand and lead her up the gently sloping side of a craggy mesa.

After her initial unease that morning, Maria had been able to forget about her dreams and focus on just being herself and enjoying the festival.  Smiling her agreement, she allowed Max to guide her away from the noise and bustle of the festival.

They walked up to the crest of the mesa, walking to the far edge where the sound of the raucous crowds were lost to the wind.

Maria dropped down onto the warm ground, spreading her legs out in front of her.  She was so tired she didn't think she'd be able to walk back to the Jeep on her own.  She patted the ground next to her in a silent invitation for Max to join her.

"It's beautiful out here."

"Yeah, it is," she agreed, sighing with pleasure.

"Having fun?" he asked although he already knew the answer.  It had been a long time since he'd spent time with just Maria.  Ever since their destiny encumbered summer when Liz had taken off for Florida and Michael had avoided Maria like the plague, they hadn't spent any time together when someone else wasn't there.  He hadn't realized how much he'd missed being with her until they'd lost Michael and Liz that morning.

"You know what?  I am.  Thanks."

"For what?"

"For convincing everyone to come and for being my riding partner for the day even though it meant you didn't get to spend the day with Liz."

"The whole weekend was your idea, Maria.  All I did was agree that it was a good idea."

"True, but without the say so of the fearless leader, no one would have agreed to come."  Maria leaned back and supported her weight with her arms, feeling the warmth of the rock radiate up her arms.  "My opinions aren't exactly the most favored."

"Don't sell yourself short."

"I'm not, I'm just being honest.  You know it's true, Max."  Dropping her voice an octave she continued, "Oh, you know how that Maria is.  It must be all those oils she sniffs, they've really scrambled her brain something good."

"No one says that."

"Maybe not, but they think it."

Max considered what she'd said for a moment before responding.  He hadn't known Maria was insecure about anything, with the exception of her odd relationship with Michael, but she'd have to be crazy not to be insecure about that.  "I don't think it, and neither does Liz."

"You're deluded, alien-boy.  Liz has even said it.  I know she loves me and all, but she still thinks I'm a bit of a ditz.  Hmm, maybe she's right.  I mean, I'd have to be, right?  Have you seen how my mother makes a living?" she chuckled.

Deciding to try another route, Max murmured, "It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks.  What you think is the only thing that's important."

"And I think..."  Maria thought for a moment.  "Okay, you've got me there, I don't know what I think." She smiled at her comment.  It was the only truthful answer she could give.  She looked up at the sky, night was falling quickly, causing the stars to brighten in surreal radiance.

They sat in silent contemplation for a long time, watching the stars prick the sky with their tiny points of light.  The first brilliant shower of the fireworks show awed them, shaking them out of their separate reveries.  She watched the colors spiraling across the sky and a memory tugged at her consciousness.

She turned to look at Max and was surprised to find his eyes already on her.  There was an electricity in the air around them, a spark that had nothing to do with the fireworks that lit the sky.  Before she could stop herself, she leaned closer to him, closing her eyes in anticipation.

Her last conscious thought was that he tasted the same as he had in her dreams.

~~~

"Where have you two been!" Isabel demanded when Maria slipped into their hotel room.

Immediately defensive, she shot back, "At the festival, where were we supposed to be?"  She couldn't bring herself to look any of her temporary roommates in the eye.  She didn't think she could even look herself in the eye in the bathroom mirror.

The kiss had shocked them both.  Max had looked at her in wide-eyed surprise when they had finally broken their embrace and she knew she had worn a similar expression.  Dream kisses were one thing, but kissing the real, live boyfriend of her best friend (or best-friend of her own boyfriend, depending on how she chose to look at it) was something else completely.  They couldn't let anyone else find out.  No one would be able to understand what they themselves didn't even understand, and people would end up getting hurt.

All she could think about was what Michael would think if he ever found out.  He would think he'd failed to measure up yet again, that he wasn't as good as Max was, that he didn't deserve to be loved.  Maria was tired of waging that battle without adding fuel to the fire.