Part 2

Running on Empty

As Serena and him headed through reception, Max felt a shiver of anticipation and dread run down his spine. He hadn't planned on spending anytime with or even near Liz while he was in Roswell but unless he broke his leg in the next three minutes it seem like he had no other choice. He tightened his hold on Serena. What the hell had she been thinking when she had agreed to this? Didn't she realize that this was his idea of hell?

And there she was. Liz 'Heartbreaker' Parker. He moved closer to Serena, his human shield and prepared to start acting like a desperately in love married man.

"Max, if you don't get your hand off my ass right this second I'm going to cut it off!" Serena said with a tight smile. The look in her hazel eyes telling him that she meant every single word.

He returned her tight smile with one of his own. "We're married! I'm acting like a loving husband,"

"No, you're acting like a perv." Serena said managing to smile and glare at the same time.

"Do you think I'm enjoying this?" Max asked through clenched teeth. He didn't understand why Serena was being so difficult; it wasn't like he wanted to be groping her ass. He could think of hundred and one things he would rather be doing and groping his best friend's ass was not on that list anywhere. Jennifer Lopez's ass, well that was a different story altogether.

"Well, duh!" Serena whispered with a snort before she turned her attention to Liz. "Hey Liz, sorry we're late. I hope we didn't keep you waiting too long."

'Traitor!' Max thought as he stood silently by her side.

"No, it's okay. I only just got here,"

Max resisted the strong urge to bolt as Liz smiled at them nervously. Good, he was glad she wasn't comfortable with this situation either. It would make it easier to avoid something like this happening again.

He studied her out of the corner of his eye and hated to admit it even to himself but she was still able to make his stomach rumble. And his heart feel like it was being shredded into teeny tiny little pieces. He shook his head; Heartbreaker Parker was never again going to get a chance to chew his heart.

"Great, well we just need to warm up and then we can be off." Serena smiled brightly at both of them, "This is going to be fun!"

Max rolled his eyes; this was going to be as much as fun as catching Typhoid Fever. Actually at this minute Max would take the Typhoid Fever, at least with Typhoid Fever he knew that he would be put out of his misery sooner rather then later.

It was official; Liz did not like Max Evans at all. In actual fact, she was about two steps away from wiping that stupid smug smirk right off his face. At least, she would be two steps away from wiping that stupid arrogant smirk off his face if she wasn't too busy dying!

"Liz, are you okay?" Serena asked, concern was written clearly on the taller brunette's face as she slowed her pace so that she was now jogging beside Liz.

"I'm…" Liz paused to gasp air into her burning lungs. "Fine!"

Liz applauded herself on her excellent lying because she was anything but fine. Ha, she couldn't even remember what fine felt like anymore. Any minute now, she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen to the brain. Or so she hoped! She tried to concentrate on her feet pounding the ground instead of the intense pain in her side. Ugh, when had she become so unhealthy? She was panting for air, her heart was beating so hard that she was sure that it was going to burst out of her chest, her legs were aching with every movement and worse of all, she was sweating and it was so disgusting.

She glanced to her side at Serena who looked the height of perfection. Did Serena even know the meaning of the word sweat? Hell, she didn't even have a single hair out of place.

"Are you sure? Because we could stop for a minute," Serena said.

"Again?" Max muttered loud enough for Liz to hear, he threw a disgusted look in her direction.

"No!" Liz managed to say through clenched teeth, wishing that she had the strength to punch Max in the face. He had been acting like a jackass since she had arrived and it was starting to grate on her nerves and for the first time in three years, Liz didn't feel anything even resembling the longing she normally felt for Max. She didn't even know who he was anymore.

"You know, I have a voodoo doll of Max that you can borrow if you like." Serena whispered with a mischievous grin. "When I'm mad at him, I like to poke it in the eyes!"

Liz burst into giggles and then groaned in pain. It hurt too much to laugh. Finally admitting defeat, she collapsed onto the nearest bench. She was never going to run again or for that matter walk. She was in so much pain.

Serena smiled down at her, "I'll head back to the hotel and get the car."

"No, I can walk." Liz said shaking her head in protest. She winced as she rose to her feet causing Serena to raise an eyebrow in disbelieve. "I don't want to be any trouble,"

"Don't be silly. I'll be back before you know it." Serena stated with a reassuring smile. "Max, stay with Liz while I get the car!"

"I'll come with you!" Max said a little too quickly.

"What? And leave Liz here alone? I don't think so. I'll be back in a minute," Serena said and before Max had the chance to protest, she was gone.

Max was going to kill Serena. How could she leave him alone with Liz? Especially after everything he had said to her back at the hotel. It wasn't bad enough that he had just spent the last hour having to watch Liz bounce around, looking adorable and sexy at the same. No, now he had it stand here and try not to notice how beautiful she looked sat down on that bench, her chest heaving as she tried to calm her breathing, her skin flushed with a rosy glow. He had never seen a woman look more sexually enticing as Liz Parker did right that moment.

He was too much of a coward to deal with the emotions that rushed around his body, every time that she glanced his way. So he stood in silence, waiting impatiently for Serena's return. The less time he had to spend with Liz, the better! He looked down at his watch and muttered a curse; Serena should have been back already.

"Serena is really nice," Liz said breaking the silence.

"Yeah, she is." Max grunted. Couldn't she see that he didn't want to talk to her? All he wanted to do was brood until Serena's return otherwise he was going to end up dragging Liz into the nearest bush and showing her exactly how nice he could be as well.

"You two must be really happy together,"

"Yeah, we are." Max muttered. He didn't bother looking at her, knowing that if he did, he wouldn't be able to look away again. He heard Liz let out a sigh of exasperation, which was followed by an awkward silence. He was so frustrated, he didn't want to be lusting over Liz, and he didn't want to have any feelings at all where it concerned her.

"Jackass!" Liz mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't say a word!" Liz looked at him innocently before mumbling another quick 'Jackass' under her breath.

"That's it! What the hell is your problem?" Max asked glaring at her.

"My problem?" Liz asked looking affronted "What the hell is your problem? I've been trying to be nice to you all afternoon and you've been acting like a big fat jerk. I've just been trying to be your friend and…"

"I don't want you to be my friend!" Max said, aghast at the very idea.

"Well good because guess what? I don't like you very much! You're just a mean, horrible person who….who smells like cheese!"

"Wow, that's mature!" Max said, the sarcasm dripping off his words.

"I know you are but what am I?" Liz said poking out her tongue.

Max shook his head in disgust. God, all he wanted to do was pin her to that bench and put her tongue to better uses. Disgusted with where his thoughts were heading, he turned his back to her, intent on just ignoring her until Serena's return.

Five minutes later, he braved a glance in her direction and instantly knew it was a mistake as he watched her chew her bottom lip. He felt his mouth go dry and suddenly felt like the high school boy he had left behind here in Roswell. He was beyond pathetic!

"I'm back!"

"About time!" Max muttered, heading towards the car without a backwards glance toward either Liz or Serena. The two women shared a look before following him to the car.

"You said he smelt like cheese?" Maria said, unable to believe that Liz Parker of all people would use such a lame insult.

"Oh, it was horrible!" Liz moaned as she recalled the afternoon's events. She dug her spoon into her ice cream. "It was so embarrassing!"

"It couldn't have been that bad, Parker!" Sean stated.

"No, it was worse! Not only did I call him a jerk, which I don't regret for a minute, but I was sweating and dirty. Ugh, I've never felt so unattractive in my life." Liz said, wrinkling her nose as she thought about been sweaty. She shuddered. "It was like a nightmare!"

"Girl, it's sickening how attractive you are!" Maria stated, always ready to play the loyal best friend in shining armor.

Ignoring Maria's comment, Liz continued to talk "You should see his wife, Sean. Serena is like this perfect super model. She's beautiful and smart and funny. Compared to her I'm like a frumpy little dwarf!" Liz sighed, digging her spoon deeper into the ice cream.

"Frumpy little dwarf? You have got to be kidding me, Parker!" Sean snorted in disbelief. "As a guy, I can safely tell you that there is nothing about you that is even remotely like a frumpy little dwarf! You're hot and that is all I'm saying on the subject!"

"You have to say that because you're my friend. And anyway I think that Serena might even be prettier then Isabel! What do you have to say to that?"

The last sentence caught Sean's attention and he raised an eyebrow in interest. "Prettier then Princess Iz? Wow, this chick must be a killer" Realizing what he had said, he smiled sheepishly at Liz before trying to make an amends "Of course, it goes without saying that you are the most beautiful woman in Roswell!"

Liz rolled her eyes at Sean's poor attempt to make her feel better. There was only one thing that was going to make her feel better and that was ice cream. Sure, it wasn't going to solve all her problems but at least the ice cream wasn't married to someone else. Nope, the ice cream belonged completely to her and that was the way she liked it.

"Don't think that I don't know what you're doing!" Max said, pointing a finger towards Serena accusingly. "And I'm telling you it's not going to work!"

"Damn! How did you find out about my evil plan of world domination? It was the wicked laugh wasn't it? I knew it was over the top! And hey, what do you mean it's not going to work? I'm willing to bet my heritance that I will be Queen of the Universe by the time I reach 25!" Her face lit up as an idea occurred to her, "Hey, since I'm your wife doesn't that like already make me a queen?"

"Don't try and change the subject!" Max said with a scowl.

"What subject? I don't even know what you are talking about?" Serena stated with a roll of her eyes. "Did you take some crazy pills when I wasn't looking?"

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about!" Max stated. He let out a low growl of frustration when Serena continued to stare at him blankly. "Liz! We're talking about Liz!"

"So now you want to talk about her?" Serena asked, she sat down on the bed and looked at him expectedly "Come on Max, the anticipation is killing me!"

"Look, whatever is going on in that head of yours needs to stop!" Max stated. He wasn't quite sure what was going on in Serena's mind (and he doubted she knew either) but whatever it was it involved him and Liz. Why else would Serena want the three of them to spend so much time together?

"Okay Mr. Crazy, you need to rewind, like a lot, 'cause I'm kinda confused!"

Max snorted, "You and whatever idea you have about forcing me and Liz together needs to stop! I know you're trying to help and I love you for it but it really needs to stop. Right here, right now! It needs to stop. So stop it!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Serena denied but the slight flush of color on her cheeks suggested otherwise to Max.

"Oh Liz, today was so much fun, we should do it again really soon. We should go out for dinner tomorrow night! Oh Liz, that is such a pretty shirt, Max don't you think that Liz's shirt is pretty?" Max mimicked complete with a high pitched voice and hair flick.

"I do not sound like that!" Serena scorned "And I'm not planning anything! I happen to like Liz and since she is the only one of your friends that doesn't treat me like I'm Yoko trying to break up the band we will be going to that dinner tomorrow"

"Since Liz is your new best friend you won't mind going to dinner by yourself tomorrow night." Max stated pettily, he folded his arms across his chest. He was obdurate. Nothing was going to make him go tomorrow night.

"Isabel is picking us up at 7 sharp. Make sure that you look pretty"