Max and Liz were having lunch in the school-cafeteria.

"My place or yours?" Max asked, taking a sip of his coke.

"Yours," Liz answered. "I need to talk to Isabel about something."

"Well, then it's a date," Max said.

The next five minutes was spent by looking into each other's eyes and eating.

Then they were interrupted by Isabel, who joined them at the table.

"I hate to interrupt your romantic lunch-date, but as you can see, if you stop staring at each other for like five seconds, all the other tables are taken," she said with a sigh.

"That's okay," Liz said. "It's fits just fine, cause I have something to talk to you about and now is as good as anytime."

"Shoot," Isabel said and sounded curious.

"Well…" Liz started. "It's about Maria. I'm kind of worried about her. You know yesterday when she collapsed at the Crashdown?"

"Yeah," Isabel said. "She said that she was just tired."

"Well, I don't know if I believe her. I mean she's been acting weird for some time now and it's not like her to not tell me if anything was wrong."

"I agree," Max said. "Maria hasn't been her usual self lately."

"Well…what do you think it is?" Isabel asked, looking at Liz.

"Yesterday, before she collapsed, she told me about this dream."

"Dream?" Max asked skeptically.

"She said that she was running from something, but she didn't know what. And she felt this awful pain in her stomach. But before she knew it, she was standing in this ball-room and a gorgeous man was asking her to dance."

"Sounds like a typical dream to me," Isabel commented, but seemed intrigued.

"It did to me too," Liz said. "But she said that it felt really real in a way she couldn't explain. And then with the whole thing at the Crashdown I started to think. What if it has some connection?"

"I don't know Liz. I think it's just a coincidence," Max said gently.

Liz hated when he did that. Trying to let her down easily.

"Maybe," she said. "But what if it isn't? I think it's worth checking in to."

"So you want me to dreamwalk Maria and see what I can find out?" Isabel asked.

"Exactly."

"I'll do it tonight," Isabel said immediately. "Although, Maria doesn't like it when I invade her privacy like that."

"Well, Maria doesn't have to know, does she?" Liz asked with a wicked smile.

"I guess not," Isabel answered, smiling back.

The three of them continued eating and didn't say much. After a few minutes Isabel looked over at Kyle and Tess who were standing in line to take some food.

"So, what are we going to do about those two?" she asked, nodding her head in their direction.

"What do you mean?" Max asked, looking clueless.

Liz smiled. Max was probably totally oblivious to the vibes between Kyle and Tess.

"Well, my dear brother," Isabel said. "It's obvious they need a push in the right direction, since neither of them seem to want to take the first step."

"So?" Max said, not sounding interested.

"We might have to do the pushing," Liz answered.

"Exactly," Isabel agreed and fired away a smile that said it all. A plan was starting up in her head. Liz couldn't wait to hear what it was. She had always hoped that Kyle would find someone to love. At first Liz hadn't thought that Tess was the best choice, but when she didn't show any interest in Max anymore, she was actually being really nice. And now she and Kyle seemed to be the perfect couple.

"So do you have a plan?" Liz asked looking at Isabel.

"A plan for what?" Tess asked when she sat down next to Max. Kyle sat down next to Liz.

"Oh, nothing," Liz answered, and tried to sound casual.

"You don't fool me, Parker," Kyle said and looked at her and then at Isabel. "You two are up to something. Max, what is it?"

"Oh, don't drag me into this," Max said. "It's girlstuff."

"Girlstuff? Why didn't you tell me? I'm not interested in anything that only involves talk about clothes, make-up and a lot of giggling."

"Well Kyle," Isabel said. "Then maybe we should talk about the latest issue of Playboy instead."

"Now you're talking…"

Maria was just about to close her eyes and go of to sleep when she heard a knock on her window. She got up from her bed and went to see who it was. She was surprised to see Michael outside. He hadn't been to visit her in weeks. Not since they broke up two weeks ago.

She had planted a ladder outside just in case, so that he could climb up without waking her mom up.

She opened the window and Michael went up the ladder and climbed into her room.

Maria went to sit on her bed and waited for him to start talking.

"I'm sorry for just showing up like this," Michael said and sat down opposite to her. "But I started thinking about you and I couldn't stay away."

"It's okay," Maria answered. "I was just getting ready for bed. I felt like going to sleep early. I have been feeling really tired for some time now."

"Yeah I know," Michael said and looked her straight in the eyes. "That's why you collapsed at the Crashdown yesterday. At least that's what you told me."

"That was why," Maria protested.

"But why did you have that stomachache then?" Michael asked. "It didn't seem to be the kind of pain you get from sleeping to little."

"I know," Maria said. Michael always knew when she was lying. "I don't know why that happened."

"I wish you would tell me what was going on," Michael said, sounding hurt. "You could always talk to me before Maria. What happened?"

"We broke up Michael. That's what happened."

Maria started to feel really bad. She hadn't realized that Michael was this hurt by what had happened.

"I still don't understand why we did that. It wasn't even we who did it. It was you Maria."

"I couldn't be in a relationship that stood still Michael. I've already told you this. It felt like I only gave and got nothing in return. You never talked to me the way I talked to you. You can't deny that."

"I'm not denying it. I know I have my faults. I'm not perfect."

"And neither am I," Maria said. "Far from it. What I mean is that you could be mean and never tell me what was going on. And then you would do this thing. This beautiful thing and I would just melt. Because you can be the most caring and loving person in the world sometimes."

Maria took a break and looked at Michael who was listening with intense eyes.

"Like when you let me see you. Nobody has ever done anything like that to me before. It was the most beautiful moment in my life."

Maria reached forward and took Michael's hands in hers.

"And you have been the best boyfriend anyone can ever wish for Michael. I really mean it. You haven't done anything wrong, don't ever believe that."

Michael gently touched Maria's face and dried a tear away. It took a lot of strength for Maria to not kiss him right then and there. She didn't really know why she couldn't be with him. But she needed time for herself.

"I want to be with you so much," she continued. "I don't even know why I can't. I just know that I need some time to think about what I want to do with me. Do you understand?"

"I don't understand why you can't do that with me. I can help you Maria," Michael said and spoke for the first time since Maria's little speech.

"I know you can, Michael. I know you can. It's just that I need to learn how to depend on myself. What if you find a way to go back again. I can't be the thing that holds you back from your home. And I can't bare to loose you right now. I have to get used to the idea of a life without you."

"First of all, I'm not going anywhere. And second, you can't just push me away because you're afraid of loosing me. You can't live like that."

"It's to hard Michael. I can't explain it any better, but right now I need to be alone and think. But I want to be able to be your friend. Your close friend. Do you think you can let me be that?"

"If that's all you want?"

"It is," Maria said. But her heart was screaming No! She couldn't believe that she was telling Michael that she only wanted to be friends. But this time she had to listen to her brain.

"In that case I'll do everything to be with you. Even if it means we can only be friends. Because I can't imagine not being with you, in any way that turns out to be."

The tears kept running down Maria's face and Michael reached forward again and kissed them away.

He kissed her on the lips and then went to the window.

Maria looked as he climbed through. "I love you, Spaceboy," she said and thought that Michael didn't hear.

Then his head popped into her room again. "And I love you, Earthgirl."

Then he was gone and Maria cried herself to sleep. What did I just do, she thought before she drifted of to sleep…

TBC...   Please rewiew!