Author's notes: I know
Author's notes: I know! Finally! Anyway, same format as chapter 1, all songs by Dashboard Confessional. (including Maria's song) Maria's song enclosed with ~ So this is odd

the painful realization

that all has gone wrong.

And nobody cares at all, and nobody cares at all.

A year. It had been a whole year. And Maria had not made any contact, except an envelope with no return address, full of money for her mother. She had kept her promise to pay Amy for the Jetta. So, Maria was obviously doing well, if she could send that kind of dough.

Michael was not doing as well. In fact, he was worse than when Maria first left.

And today's exactly one year since she left. And nobody even remembers.

Max and Tess were too busy sucking face. Isabel was making an "I-want-to-throw-up" face in their direction, while Kyle was using a death-ray glare on the couple from across the Crashdown. And Liz—well Liz looked crushed, but Michael wasn't sure if it was because of Maria or because of Max and Tess.

He got up from the booth and took a seat at the counter directly in front of Liz.

"Are you doing ok, Liz?"

She snapped out of the trance she was in, and looked at him like she was about to cry.

"I'm fine...just really tired."

"Liz, you don't have to pretend with me."

"I know, it's just hard to admit that I'm still practically obsessed after a whole year!"

Michael smiled a little at that.

"I know what you mean."

Liz's eyes widened with realization.

"Oh my God! I can't believe I'm so dense! I totally knew what today was, but I still blabbered on. I'm so sorry, I was being so selfish!"

"No, it's ok. At least you remembered at all. With everyone else it seems like 'out of sight, out of mind' is the rule."

"How are you holding up? I'm surprised you even came in, considering. I convinced my dad to give you the day off, telling him that you seemed very overworked lately. I didn't think you would have wanted to be around anyone."

Tears welled up in Michael's eyes. He tried to blink them back, but they threatened to spill even more. Liz's heart went out to him even more at that moment.

"Tell you what. My shift ends in about 15 minutes, so you go up to my room now, and when I'm done, we can talk."

Michael looked worried at this prospect.

"Stop being such a guy," Liz instructed, "sometimes it's better to talk about stuff. I swear!"

Michael nodded and said "thanks" as he got up to go.

So you buried all your lover's clothes

and burned the letters lover wrote,

but it doesn't make it any better.

Does it make it any better?

Michael walked into Liz's room and immediately spotted a picture of Maria.

Figures.

He decided he would probably be safer on the balcony. He climbed out the window and sat down on one of the lawn chairs.

He thought that the memories would fade. He put all of the pictures of them away, along with everything else that reminded him of her. That had put roughly half of his possessions in storage. It didn't help.

After about eight or nine months, he and Isabel tried to date. They thought maybe they could get over their losses together. But then Amy Deluca had received the money from Maria, and Michael had gotten his hopes up again. He and Isabel realized they were both clinging to the past that they didn't have, fooling themselves into thinking they could work. They broke up, just as heartbroken as before. It didn't help.

He went to Amy Deluca's house every day to help out. It was funny; he was an eighteen-year-old guy who hung out with his girlfriend's mom.

Ex-girlfriend.

They talked about everything, even the alien thing. Amy was surprisingly calm about it, like she knew all along. Or maybe nothing could shock her anymore. They supported each other, but it didn't help.

And the plaster dented from your fist

in the hall where you had your first kiss

reminds you that the memories will fade.

When he woke up this morning, he realized he couldn't picture her face as well anymore. All he could think of as he had lain in bed was:

I'm losing her. I'm losing the last bit I have left of her.

And for the first time since she had left, Michael cried.

When he pulled himself together, he knew what he could do to remember her face again. He went down to the storage room of his apartment complex and brought out ever box marked "Maria".

The first thing he had pulled out was their prom picture, which she had framed for him.

She looked like an angel. Especially when she found out I had been taking dance lessons for her.

All of his memories came flooding back as he unpacked more stuff, filling his apartment and overwhelming him. It was all too much for him, and that was when he decided to go to the Crashdown. A lot of good that did him.

So this is strange,

our sidestepping has come to be

a brilliant dance

where nobody leads at all,

where nobody leads at all.

Michael was so deep in thought, he barely noticed when Liz climbed onto the porch and sat down across from him.

"Hello? Earth to Michael? Come back to me Spaceboy!"

When he gave her a stricken look, she realized what she had just called him.

"Sorry, I just...I'm an idiot," she said with an apologetic smile on her face.

"It's ok, you just took me by surprise."

"So, I can tell today's been tough. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Well, I'm here aren't I?" He took a deep breath. "I'm going crazy without Maria."

"I know what you mean," Liz said as her eyes glanced at a picture of her and Max.

Michael saw her look at the picture and shook his head. "It's more than that though. We have no clue where Maria is. I don't know if she's ok, or even if she's still alive! At least you still see Max."

"Yeah, that makes my life a whole lot easier," she snapped. "God, I'm sorry. This is just the worst day."

"It's ok, I understand."

Liz noticed that Michael seemed a bit uneasy, even more so than usual.

"There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

And the picture frames are facing down

and the ringing from this empty sound

is deafening and keeping you from sleep.

"I'm not keeping anything from you. I just miss Maria, that's all," Michael said a bit too defensively.

"Nope. I'm not buying it. Something is definitely off in this situation." Liz studied his face carefully, looking for clues to what he was hiding.

He looked away from her.

"Michael, I know how much it hurts to keep secrets from those you love," she whispered, as tears welled up in her eyes.

Now it was Michael's turn to scrutinize her. She was definitely holding something big inside.

"All right," he said, "I'll tell you my secret if you tell me yours. After all, it helps to talk about stuff. You said so yourself."

He had her there. Maybe she could just tell him. It would make her feel better—

Then her would tell Max.

"I can't!" she cried out. "It's too big, and you won't be able to keep this to yourself."

"Fine then, I'll go first, because I can't keep it inside anymore."

And breathing is a foreign task

and thinking's just too much to ask

and you're measuring your minutes

by a clock that's blinking eights.

"I know where Maria went."

Liz let out a tiny yelp.

"Where? How do you know? Since when? Is she ok?"

"I'm not sure where she is exactly, I just know she's in LA. That's why I'm so worried, because that doesn't narrow it down enough."

"Ohhhh..." Liz breathed out. "Wait. You still haven't told me how you know this."

Michael sighed, "She came to see me the night before she left."

"What!?!" Liz screamed. "Why didn't you stop her?"

"Well, we kind of got into a fight..." he mumbled.

Liz hit him upside the head.

"Hey! I did try and stop her though! I went to her house later and left her a letter. I know she took it, because it wasn't in her room the next day."

He told her all that he had written to Maria and where he left it. He told her about Amy coming over the next morning, and the hell that he had been through the past year.

"Oh Michael," Liz said as she hugged him. "Feel better now?"

"A little, you should try it."

"I promised that I wouldn't," she sobbed into his shoulder. "It would change everything, and I can't have that on my shoulders."

"Shhhh...don't worry. I won't tell anyone."

She looked at him sharply. "Not even Max?"

"This is about him isn't it?"

She nodded sadly. "Remember when slept with Kyle? Well, we didn't really do it."

Michael stared at her, obviously confused.

"See, a version of Max came back from the future using the Granolith. He told me that soon Max and I would grow closer, and Tess would become jealous and leave Roswell. But when the skins attacked, you three weren't as strong without her, and the skins were winning. Max said when he left, you and Isabel were already dead. I had to help him...fall out of love with me."

She continued on, telling him all that she had tried to do, finally resorting to the "sleeping" with Kyle plan. She told him how much it hurt to lie to Max, especially about something as huge as that. She told him how hard it was to see that her plan worked.

"I was supposed to marry him, Michael," she whispered.

"But don't you feel better now that you talked about it?"

She smiled, "I haven't felt this good since I told...well, since I told Maria."

Michael was surprised. "She knew?"

Liz simply nodded.

"Wow," he said. "Well, I better go see how Amy is holding up. She seemed uneasy this past week, probably because of today. But, hey, if you need to talk, I'm here."

"I'll walk you out," Liz said as she smiled brightly at him.

This is incredible.

Starving, insatiable,

yes, this is love for the first time.

Well, you'd like to think

that you were invincible.

Yeah, well weren't we all once

before we felt loss for the first time.

Well this is the last time.

As Michael and Liz walked back into the Crashdown, they heard a song on the radio that made Michael stop dead in his tracks.

~Which of the bold faced lines will we use?

I hope you're happy,

you really deserve it,

this will be best for both of us in the end.

But your taste still lingers on my lips,

like I just placed them upon yours

and I starve for you.

But this new diet's liquid

and dulling to the senses.

And it's crude,

but it will do.

Which of the standard lines will we use?

I've been meaning to call you.

I've just been so busy.

We'll catch up soon.

Let's make it a point to.

But your taste still lingers on my lips

Like I just placed them upon yours

and I starve for you.

But this new diet's liquid

and dulling to the senses.

And it's crude,

but it will do.~

"That sounded just like her," Michael whispered to Liz, barely holding back tears.

The disc jockey on the radio spoke: "That last one was the new hit single, 'Standard Lines', from breakout singer Maria Guerin. Her new cd will be out in stored next month."

Does he ever get the girl?