I don't own any of the Roswell characters. I simply write a story about them.
-I was sitting on the floor of the bookstore, reading one of the new mystery novels with only the little lamp that I brought with me on my reading trips. I wasn't trespassing or breaking in, I lived, well, rented an apartment, above the bookstore and was good friends with the owner, David. Not to mention that I worked there.
So, I was sitting there, it was about eleven thirty at night and raining, no less. The store had been closed for about an hour and I was the only one in there, and had just gotten to a really, really good scary part when someone knocked on the glass door. I had to admit that I bit my hand to keep from squealing.
I put my book down and got up out of the aisle and walked to the front door. "We're closed," I told the guy who was standing in the rain, watching me; talk about a creep.
"I'm David's nephew. I was supposed to meet him here earlier but," He glanced out at the dark street. "It was raining hard and the bus was late."
I unlocked the door and let him in. "Oh, um, Max?" Luckily David had mentioned that he was coming or I might've not have let him in. I was a pretty suspicious person.
"Come in, I'm sorry. Oh, dang. Just stand there a minute." I raced into the back room and grabbed one of the towels that sat on the shelf, waiting for a moment like this. "Here, sorry."
"That's okay." He started drying off his face and hair.
"Uh, do you want me to go get him for you?"
"Sure, I'll just dry off. Thanks." I went through the back door again, this time going up the stairs. The second floor is where David and one of the other people who rented from him lived.
I knocked quietly because David had super good hearing and the people next door always complained that they couldn't sleep because all of the "ruckus" going on. "David?" I whispered right as the door opened. "Oh, hey, Max is downstairs."
"Ok, tell him I'll be right down." He smiled and closed the door. David was in his thirties, I guessed, and was quite attractive. But because of my lack of a real dad, he was more of a fatherly friend type of person to me.
I used to come to the bookstore all the time and applied for a job there when I turned sixteen. That's when we really needed money because the rent at our old house was so high and my parents did crap about it. During the interview, David asked why I wanted the job, besides that we were already friends and I came in all the time. I told him the truth, like I did most of the time, and he gave me the job, and a new home. He was my favorite person.
"He said he'd be down in a minute." I told Max. I couldn't help but notice how dry he looked. He'd been soaked a few minutes ago but looked pretty dry already.
"Thanks." I took that as dismissal so I went back to my book and tried to read. I was usually in the story in a matter of minutes, but the way that the guy had come over to the aisle and was pretending to read the covers of some of the books was unnerving.
"Max!" David came out, in his pajamas- a wife beater shirt and some loose pants. "How are you?" Max smiled and walked past me.
"Good, long time no see." I couldn't help but watch them hug.
"This is Liz." I smiled and stood up.
"It's getting late, I'm going up." I bent down, picked the book and lamp up, putting them back up before walking away from the two. "G'night."
"Is that the girl you were telling me about?" It was faint, but I could hear Max ask the question. I'm not sure what David said back because I went up the stairs to the second floor and quietly entered our small, some would say cozy, apartment.
-"Uuh." I rolled over onto my side and hit the snooze on my alarm clock that had been beeping at me for the last minute. When it went off again, I turned it off and walked out of our apartment and down the hall to the bathroom, my eyes barely open. I took a shower and towards the end I felt awake and sang some.
I turned off the water and heard Josie, our neighbor, who got up at the same time as me, come into the shower stall next to mine. The apartments on top of the store were really pretty cool. Yeah, there were no bathrooms in each apartment, but instead, there was one for each floor. I actually thought it was better than having to share with my parents.
"Hey, Josie." She murmured a 'hi' and I went into one of the bathroom stalls and got changed. I stopped by the apartment to drop off my stuff and then went downstairs.
"You're up early." David was doing something behind the counter.
"When am I not?" I felt the twenty in my pocket. "I'll be back." I went outside and walked the block to the donut shop and came back with six chocolate donuts and two bottles of milk.
"On the counter for ya." I said to Max as I passed him so I could go to the back and wash my hands. I always ate mine on the way back.
I came back out and sat on a stool by David, who was now counting the money. "Anyone come in yet?"
"Naw." He glanced at the clock. "It's only seven fifteen, Liz."
"Geez, just askin'."
"You should sleep in more often." I just shrugged. "So what do you think of Max?"
"What do you mean 'what do I think of Max?"
"What was your first impression?"
"Well, considering I was on the floor reading another Stephen King book when he knocked, I thought he looked like a crazed criminal."
Max came in and laughed. "Thanks, I guess." I blushed.
"Yeah, um, sure." I got up off of the stool as he came over and went back to get the book I'd been reading. Page 224. I walked over to one of the big, comfy chairs that was against the wall and sat in it while I read.
I was so involved with the chapter I was reading, I didn't hear David calling me until he came over and took the book from me. "Hey!" I glared at him. "No ones even here."
"Like you'd know. I was calling you for like five minutes straight."
"Well, it's a good book." I tried to take it back but he hid it behind his back. "What do you want?" I sighed.
"I need to talk to you." I followed him over to the front of the store. "Listen, Max just left and I don't know when he'll get back."
"So?"
"So…I need you to do me a favor. Besides, you're a girl."
"What kind of a favor?" I eyed him suspiciously, have I mentioned that I'm a very cautious person?
"The kind that actually involves you shopping." I waited for him to continue. "Today's Rachel's birthday and I want her to have something special."
"Why didn't you ask me yesterday?" He didn't answer. "Do you have anything in mind?"
"Just…No. You're a girl, you should be able to pick something out."
"Uh-huh." I took the three twenties he handed me. "I'll be back." This was the second year I was getting something for Rachel. Rachel, well, Rachel was David's girlfriend, sort of. She came over to the store a lot and they both liked each other, it was obvious, but he didn't have the guts to ask her out. It was pretty strange. He'd had the guts to buy a store and fix it up and all that, but he couldn't ask a girl out. Guys; can't get anything stranger.
I left the store and walked a couple of blocks to the jewelry store. I always had creative ideas broiling in my head and I had the perfect idea for Rachel.
I picked out a gorgeous set of earrings that were deep green that would match her eyes perfectly. They had silver around them and cost nearly forty dollars, but they were worth it.
I walked back towards the bookstore but stopped by the store and got a box of cake mix, chocolate icing, some candles, a jar of sprinkles, and got a small tube of white icing for decorating.
It was going on ten when I got back. "What took you so long? What did you get?" David asked.
"Tell you later." I went up the stairs to my room and went to the kitchen. Luckily, my parents were gone and I had the place to myself. I cooked the yellow cake, her favorite, and then let it cool.
I went back down to waste some time. "Are you done? Where is it?"
"David." I bit my lip. "Don't worry. It's a cake and it's cooling. I'm just here to get the book." I took the King novel off of the counter and started to leave.
"A cake?" I turned.
"Yes. A delicious yellow cake that will be decorated to perfection." I smiled and left.
"That took you an hour?" He yelled after me. I didn't answer and spent an hour lying on the couch, reading. When my alarm went off, I put the book down and went to the kitchen.
The cake was cooled by then, probably a while ago, but I had given it an hour, and got to work. I cut out a square, big enough to fit the little black box, in the top of the cake. Luckily, it was a smooth box that had the fuzzy one inside, so it wasn't a problem to spread the chocolate icing over it.
I decorated to cover up the small raised square in the middle of the cake. I wrote Happy above the box, B-day on the box, and Rachel below before I added sprinkles. It looked pretty good and smelled even better. But the best part was that the box was completely camouflaged.
"Here." I'd put the cake on a platter and put the rest of the sprinkles on the edges before coming down and handing it over to David. "Go visit her, have an early lunch, on you, and then give her the cake for dessert."
"Wow, that looks really good. I thought you'd buy an actual gift but this is probably better."
"Yeah, I know." I put the cake on the counter and gave him the change.
"Man, talk about an expensive cake." I smiled. "Thanks. I owe you one." He hugged me.
"You owe me more than that." I muttered. "Now go." He left, smiling like crazy, and I watched the store.
"Excuse me?" A small woman came in through the door. "I was wondering if you could help me find something." She was wondering where she might be able to find the latest Harry Potter book for her "grandbaby."
No one came after that for at least an hour, so, in the mean time I finished the book and put it back.
The bells on the door rang. "Hey." I turned around and saw Max coming in.
"Hey." I have to admit he looked pretty good. He had to be around my age.
"What's up?" He asked as I smiled to myself. "What?"
"Your uncle left about an hour ago."
"Yeah?"
"He went on a date." He didn't ask details so I didn't tell.
"Really?" I nodded. "Ok, well, do you need any help?"
"Nope. Sunday is our slow day." I paused. "Sorry about the other night."
"What's there to be sorry about?" I smiled and then he left to go in the back.
-"I cannot believe you." I looked over in the doors general area and saw David.
"What?" I put on my innocent face while he walked over and stood right in front of me.
"You sneaky, money spending brat." I raised my eyebrows. "She loved it." He hugged me tight.
"Uh, good. You looked mad for a second there."
"You could've told me." He laughed. "You should've seen her face when she tried to cut it. Hell, you should've seen mine." He laughed again and I smiled. "I thought that there was a clump of unmixed batter or something. That was a good idea, but you should've warned me."
"I thought you deserved a little surprise." I grinned. "So, it went well?"
"It was delicious, you should think about going into the food business, and the earrings looked great on her. I knew you had the girly touch inside you."
"Well, it's not coming out for another five years so I hope you enjoyed it." He looked off into space. "Are you going to go on a date or anything?"
He snapped back to reality. "Uh."
"You idiot!" I laughed.
"Well, I thought the lunch was the date."
"It was more of a…sample? You need to call her up and ask her out to a real date."
"No," He stammered. "I'm sure she's tired of me already."
"You are so stupid." I was really laughing now. "She's in love with you!" I stopped laughing and I felt my eyes get big. "I, uh, I mean she's in like with you." I tried to cover it up.
"She what?"
"She's in love with you." I sighed, no point in trying to hide the obvious. "She can't keep her eyes off of you. If you really can't see it then, then that's just a shame. Do you know what I'd give to be in love?" I looked out of the window and saw a couple walk by, hand in hand.
"What do you mean?" He looked me over.
"You have no clue how lucky you are. Everybody loves you and Rachel really loves you."
"What do you mean? People love you too."
"Uh-huh." I blinked quickly.
"Your parents love you, I love you."
"Yeah, my parents love me so much. My alien obsessed mom, my dad who's just…my lazy ass dad. Yep, they sure do love me, we're a perfect little family."
"Hey." He took my chin and made me look him in the eyes. "Every family has their problems."
"Yeah. Anyway, she's not going to wait around for you forever. You have to make a move. Call her; ask her if she'd like to go out to eat on Friday. That gives you five days to prepare." I'd gone back to staring out the window.
"Fine. But seriously, if you feel that way, why don't you tell your parents?"
I looked him in the eyes, I felt the tears coming. They seemed to do that often. "Do you know what my mom told me on my tenth birthday?" I didn't wait for an answer. "She told me that she was abducted ten years and nine months ago. She said that she got pregnant right after she came back. She said that my dad hadn't touched her in weeks." I looked out of the window. "My mom hates me because she thinks I'm an alien and my dad thinks I'm some other man's baby. Hell, knowing me, I probably am an alien."
I got up and walked to the back room, passing Max who watched me walk away with tears falling down my face. God, I had to many emotions running wild.
- I'd gone to the downstairs bathroom and cried my eyes out. When I was done and there was nothing left, I got up and looked in the mirror. My eyes were dark brown, they always got darker when I cried, and my face was red. I washed my face and then sat under the hand dryer and let it warm me.
"Are you ok?" Rachel was leaning against the wall.
"Yeah. Just got a little upset. Can I get you something?"
"No, but thanks for the earrings and cake, they were lovely." I made my face blank.
"What are you talking about?"
"David's gift."
"Oh," I smiled. "Happy birthday."
"Thanks, but it's ok, I know David didn't have much to do with the gift. You should've seen his face." She looked out into space, chuckling. "He's so cute."
"I really don't know what you're talking about, but if you think he's so cute then why aren't you with him right now?"
"I came over and he told me you were upset, though, about what I have no idea."
"I'm fine. Did he ask you out yet?" Her eyebrows furrowed together.
"At lunch?"
"Friday night, seven o'clock. He'll come get you."
She laughed. "He couldn't ask me?"
"No…you see, he's on the shy side. At least when it comes to women. The point is, he likes you a lot and wants to go out. You either ask him or I'll force him to go."
-"Would you mind showing Max around school? Because he's new and all and you're both in the same grade. Not to mention that you go to the same school." David asked later that night.
"Sure." I wasn't really 'sure' about anything. My life was screwed up and I needed a hero, someone to pull me away from my mess of a family. Dang, I was overly romantic and it wasn't doing me any good. "Where is he by the way?"
"Visiting his cousins."
"Cousins?"
"Yeah, my sister's kids. Max is my brother's kid. It's a long story but basically Max is here with me for now. Until his dad can get some help." There was something not right about this story, I could tell.
"Ookay." I stood up and brushed my hands on my legs. "But he has to give me a ride. I'm not walking to school when he has a car." I started to walk away.
"G'night." David said as he glanced at the clock. I simply grunted.
-"Yeah, so this is where your math class is." It was before the bell, before school had officially started and I had shown him where all of his classes were going to be. Which was easy, considering he had five out of our eight classes together.
The bell rang. "Okay, well, that's the bell. See you in second." I turned to leave and heard him mutter a 'thanks' to my back. "Yep."
So I went to my first class and tried to concentrate. I was usually a 'good girl' who studied and passed everything but today was one of those days. One of the ones where you're so tired that you daydream during school because learning makes you even sleepier.
I'd had a rough night. Mom and dad had had an argument while I'd been trying to sleep. Once I did, I went straight into a nightmarish dream.
"It's gonna be okay, Liz." He took my hand and we ran through the dark desert.
"Are you sure? I, I mean with everything that happened?" I could feel the tears that were flowing down my face. I was such a crybaby.
He suddenly stopped running and pulled me into a tight hug. When he let go he took my face in his hands and gently kissed my tears away. "I promise you that everything will be alright." Max licked the salty tears off of his lips before kissing me on the lips.
"Max."
"I know." I had tried to keep the dream going, so I could figure everything out, but it quickly switched gears after that.
"What is she doing here? We can't possibly take her." A tall blonde girl said. She was dressed in a robe-like outfit that enhanced her curves.
"She's the one, Is. You've got Jess and Michael his Maria. I have Liz." I turned to see a girl I recognized from school, Maria?
"You fool, she could ruin things. She not completely human. She could ruin things, Max. You never know what kind of a baby she could have. Maybe she can't even have one."
Max, who had been standing behind me, wrapped his arms around me, his hands covering my abdomen. "She can. I had a vision, Is. It's meant to happen like this."
The dream had cut out and I'd woken up, struggling to get away from the, the realness of it all. I had felt my stomach, where he'd touched and it was cool while the rest of me shook. My mother's words played over in my head.
"Liz?" I looked up. People were leaving class.
"Yeah?"
"The bell just rang. Are you alright?" Mr. Weaver asked as he looked at me carefully.
"Yes, thanks. I was just daydreaming, sorry." I got up and left before he could say anything else. Ok, that was a little weird.
In second period English, I was sitting when Max came in. I looked at him and his eyes connected with mine. I couldn't help but run my hand over my stomach. His touch was still there.
-"Hey." I looked up and saw Max come over and sit by me at lunch.
"Uh, hey." I looked down at my crappy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I felt embarrassed about English. Nothing had really happened but I'd become delusional and had somehow convinced myself that he could hear my thoughts.
"Mind if I sit?" I looked up into his eyes and managed a no.
"Sooo, how's school?" I went into my nerd lockdown, thinking only of school, no dreams, no secret touches.
"Ok." He looked at me funny. "What's the matter? You looked kind of sick in English."
"Oh," I accidentally touched my stomach and let part of the dream slip into my head. "Nothing. Something I ate." I looked back down at my pb & j. I almost laughed as I realized that this, this was the same exact lunch that I'd had since I was ten. Since my mom broke 'the news' to me and stopped making my lunch.
"Are you sure?" His eyebrows were raised.
"Yeah, um. I'm gonna go to the bathroom." I rushed to the bathroom and threw up. I felt like I was throwing up every pb & j that I'd ever had. I never wanted to see it again. I was somehow felt lighter and, well, just better than I had in years.
-My parents fought again last night. I wanted to scream at them, to yell, "Why in the hell don't you just get divorced?" Half the time I wish they would.
"I'm getting real tired of this Howie." My mom was pacing in the living room. "I, I can't handle it. I'm so close to finding out what form he's taken. I'm telling you, there is an alien in this area?"
"Yeah, I'm right here." I muttered.
"Shut your mouth." I stopped and turned.
"What did you say?" They had never really brought me into the fights. It was usually about my dad being lazy and my mom obsessing over aliens.
"I said 'shut your mouth.' This isn't about you." My dad said from the couch.
"That's just it! You guys are so selfish that you don't care about anyone beside yourself. Do you realize why we have a good deal on this place?" I waved my arms around, everything coming out. "It's because I work here, because I help David. He helps me and what do you do? You just keep on nagging each other." I paused, almost panting. "For once, for once, shut your mouth, suck it up and move on."
"How dare you!" My mother glared at me. "I brought you into-"
"What? Into this world? Yeah, maybe you did, but you made it hell." My hands suddenly felt very cold and I looked down to see that there were blue veins of ice wrapped around my hands. "Oh, God." I looked up and saw that both of my parents had backed up, trying to get away from me.
"Holy hell." I ran out of there and went straight to the bathroom. I sat on the toilet, not crying, not doing anything but watching the ice creep down to my fingertips and go into my vein.
"Am I an alien?"
-It was almost ten thirty when I came out of the bathroom. I didn't want to back to my room so I went to the only place that I could think of.
"David?" I bit my lip as I waited for him to answer the door.
"What's the matter? Oh, honey." Out of nowhere, maybe because I was wondering if David would look at me like my parents had, the tears came.
"Do you believe in aliens?" I asked once I had settled down on David's couch.
"Yeah, of course."
"I think I might be one." I whispered, I wasn't even sure he had heard me since he didn't say anything.
"What happened?" David didn't sound shocked, actually he sounded almost intrigued.
"I had a…a fight with my parents. Well, they were fighting each other but then I got in it and I started yelling." Oh, God, had anyone heard?
"And?" David rubbed his hand on my knee.
"And I got really mad and then my hands were cold." I whispered, knowing Max had to be around. Hopefully not listening. "There were…these," I paused and looked down at my hands. "Like veins of ice on my hands."
"Yeah?" I looked up at David, he was watching me carefully.
"I mean, my mom kept telling me that I was an alien and then," I took a deep breath. "It was just so weird."
"Are you okay with it?"
"What?" Okay with being even more of a freak than I had been to begin with?
"Would you be okay with it if you were an alien?" I didn't mean to flinch when he said alien but I did, and he noticed.
"I, I don't know." I chuckled softly. "It might be cool to have super powers." Who was I kidding? I was never a very good liar.
"This is serious." I looked at David in a whole new light.
"You wouldn't." I had stood up and moved away. "You really wouldn't…" I could feel my eyes getting bigger as David walked closer and closer.