Chapter 3
Max looked up as Michael walked into the bar. Michael spotted him and walked over.
"Hey Maxwell, what are you doing here?" he asked as he sat down, knowing that Max never visited bars, let alone ones in Roswell.
"Funny Michael, funny. I could ask you the same question." Max pointed out.
"Yeah well, I can do whatever I want, Maria lets me have my free time. As long as it doesn't involve any other women that is." He said with a grin, which Max didn't return.
Max turned and looked towards the stage. Michael frowned and thought about how much their lives had changed since graduation. Max and Liz had left Roswell two months after graduation, Isabel and Alex had gone to Hollywood, Kyle had gone to collage on a football scholarship, and Tess, amazingly had followed him. As for Maria and himself, they had gone to New York.
Five years later, all the lives seemed to be going well. Max was almost done with medical school, and Liz, shockingly, had left Harvard and decided to become a teacher. Her graduation was in four months. Kyle and Tess had come back to Roswell, married, and he opened his own mechanic shop. Tess worked the business end of the company while Kyle did the manual work. They were both happy, and were in contact with him and Maria the most, as Jim and Amy had gotten married almost three years earlier. Jim was a sheriff again, and Amy still ran that ridiculous store.
Isabel was a big model now, and Alex had hit it big in Silicon Valley. He had already asked her to marry him and plans were being made for the wedding in a year. As for Maria and him, she sang in some of the local nightclubs with Billy, and he was doing well in the art scene. Billy turned out to be a really great guy, and in fact had played the music at his and Maria's wedding the year before.
It was strange sometimes, thinking about how their lives had changed from how they thought they would be. The biggest difference was Max and Liz. The group always thought that those two would be the first to marry, but as of now, they weren't even close. They lived across town from each other and rarely talked about their dreams, especially Liz. She had changed the most of the group, and she rarely talked anymore, to anyone.
Everyone was back in Roswell for a yearly visit of sorts, except Kyle called it early this year. Most of the group flew to California and spent a few days at Iz and Alex's place, where Kyle and Tess were already. Then the entire group drove back to Roswell, girls in one car, guys in the other. They had stopped over night in Arizona, and arrived back in Roswell the night before. Max had been rather quiet the entire trip, .
"Hey Michael." Alex said sitting down, pulling Michael out of his thoughts.
"Hey Alex, What's up?"
"Oh, the usual I guess, Kyle here yet?"
"Nope, I wonder why he wanted us all to meet here?"
"Who knows. What about him?" Alex asked gesturing with his head towards Max.
"Who knows." Michael said shaking his head.
"Hey Max." Alex said, and Max finally looked towards him
"Oh, hi Alex. You know what, I'm going to get a drink, do you want something?"
"No thanks." Alex said as Max stood up, and Michael shook his head.
"Suit yourselves, besides, I want to call and check on Liz."
"Don't you mean check in with Liz?" Alex asked nonchalantly
"Yeah." Max said absentmindedly as he turned and walked away.
"Yeah, right." Alex muttered as soon as Max was out of earshot.
"What?" Michael asked.
"Well," Alex began sitting up, "Have you noticed the way Max has been watching Liz like a hawk these last few days we've all been together. First in California, then the drive back here. She's so jumpy when he's in the room.."
"I know, that's why I had us all meet tonight." A voice said from behind them.
The two men turned to looked at Kyle, surprised he snuck up on them, and at his statement.
"Hey Kyle, have a seat. So what's going on?" Alex asked.
"Well, what I know is via Tess and Isabel and Iz had to dreamwalk Liz to get anything out of her." He began, then held his hand up before Alex and Michael could voice their questions. "They didn't want to worry us before hand, in case nothing was up."
"Makes sense." Michael said softly.
"Yeah well, from what Iz saw, Max is insanely jealous and is driving Liz nuts because of it. I guess some guy in her classes back at Harvard had a thing for Liz, and he started leaving her presents. Liz didn't say anything about it, because she had talked to him about it and gave the guy his gifts back. Well, the guy didn't seem to understand the word no, and continued. Max found one of the gifts before Liz did and confronted the guy about it, to which he replied that he had been doing this for months.
"Well, something inside Max snapped, you know how terrified he is of losing her and all, and he confronted Liz. She couldn't believe he was acting this way, told him everything and explained her reasoning, and thought Max would let it go. Max didn't and began keeping tabs on her. Liz was going crazy, but she didn't want to lose Max so she quit Harvard, and pretty much stopped having any life outside Max. But, nothing seems to be working, and she's ready to go nuts.
"According to Iz, she's this close to a mental breakdown from the stress." He said holding his fingers an inch apart. "That's why we had everyone come back. The girls want to try and bring Liz back out of herself and give Max a clue."
"Ok, sounds like fun." Alex said with a grin.
"Yeah, so what are they going to do?" Michael asked.
"Oh you'll see. All of our girls want to surprise us, they won't even tell me what exactly they are doing." Kyle said with a smile.
"That's just like our girls." Alex said with a laugh.
"What's 'just like our girls'?"
Everyone turned and looked at Max, who stood holding a club soda.
"They went shopping." Michael said smoothly.
"Oh, of course. That is just like them. Hi Kyle."
"Hey Max."
Max sat down and picked up a pretzel. "So, how came you wanted all of us to get together?"
"No reason, just to have a guys night."
"Oh, alright. So what's new?" Max asked
"Oh not much.."Kyle began, then the light dimmed and a voice boomed overhead.