Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: I'm going to try and keep the updates frequent, because I think this is going to be a shorter story.
"Orange soda on the rocks" Alex slumped into a stool facing Maria. She went to go fill the drink, noticing Alex's upset expression.
Gently putting the glass down in front of him she leaned forward on the counter. "What's up Alex?"
"Isabel," Alex began, and Maria automatically thought 'This cannot be good' "dumped me" he buried his head in his arms folded on the counter.
"Oh, Alex" Maria said patting his shoulder "I'm so sorry. What did she say?"
"That with everything going on she couldn't be with me" he responded keeping his head down. She quickly went around the counter and hugged him from the side.
Suddenly he looked up at her "She even used the 'it's not you, it's me' routine" letting a little anger slip out of his voice. "Couldn't she have thought of something more original?"
"Like I'm an alien from outer space?" she offered trying to lighten the mood.
He just grunted and put his head back into his arms. Sympathetically running her hand up and down his back she couldn't help wondering if it was Isabel's 'destiny' that made her do it or that she was just crazy enough to let a guy like Alex go. 'Maybe she finally realized that she was meant to be with Michael, and she is over at his place right now confessing to him. Then he would confess to her and start ripping the clothes off of her supermodel body-' she stopped the thought there and shook her head. 'This cannot be healthy!' she scolded herself, 'besides you should be focusing on Alex not torturing yourself with thoughts of Michael, and how you wish he'd come and rip the clothes of your body'. The front door bell ringing brought her back to reality and she looked over at the customers.
"Alex, I'll be right back" she reached into her pocket and pulled out the cypress oil and put it beside Alex who stared at it. "It can't hurt," she urged as she went over to the customers.
Frowning at the oil he pushed it further down the counter as he sat up to drink his cola. Putting the glass back down he twirled it gloomily, when Maria bounced back into view.
"Ok I get off in five minutes and you, I and Max are going to go out tonight," she said with a vigorous smile.
"Maria, no offense but I feel more like staying in, playing my guitar badly and wallowing" he scowled at the glass still spinning on the counter.
"No," Maria said firmly, "We are not going to wallow, we are going to have fun"
Alex succumbed to her demand with a slight pout as Max strolled into the Crashdown wearing his UFO center vest.
"Hey Max!" Maria called a little too enthusiastically, "We three are going out tonight"
Pulling off his vest and shoving it into his bag he frown slightly "I thought you said you were just going to sit in your room listen to sappy songs and wallow"
"I said no such thing"
Max pulled up to Alex's house and Maria jumped out of the jeep to go and ring his doorbell. Max watched with amusement as Maria came out of the house dragging Alex behind her.
Shoving him in the back she went and sat in the passenger's seat saying "Ok, Max let's go"
They sped off down the road. Plastering a grin on her face she turned around to face Alex whose glossy eyes were staring at the houses go by. "Alex, it'll be great. It's going to be a regular wacky teenage fun time"
"And what exactly does a 'regular wacky teenage fun time' entail?" Max asked not looking away from the road.
Maria paused, "We'll go to a fancy restaurant in another town, order great food and then skip out on the check," she stated with a grin.
"Great" Alex said grimly returning his eyes to the houses.
Maria turned back in her seat. "Dinning and dashing is a 'regular wacky teenage fun time' thing to do?" Max asked looking over at her.
"Hey, I'm making this up as I go along"
"Fair enough"
"Aren't you enjoying your lobster?" Maria asked Alex with a grin. He just shrugged in response and continued to push the remains of his dinner on his plate. She turned to Max for help but he too was gloomily shoving his food around.
Maria let a sigh out of her tight-lipped smile; her plan to get Michael off her mind was not working. 'I just want to focus on something else, beside this gaping pain' she started skewering her meat and moving it from one side of her plate to the other. And for the first time, her smile slipped off her face as the sorrow began to climb and cling inside her. A sudden rush of determination followed as soon as her smile went and she thought to herself, 'If all I want to do is stopping thinking about Michael, these two must feel the same. We have to get out of this sinking hole'
"Ok, that's it" she mumbled to herself putting her fork down with a clatter. "I officially call this meeting of 'The I've Been Dumped Club' to order"
" The I've Been Dumped Club?" Max asked tearing his eyes off his dinner as Alex cocked an eyebrow in curiosity.
"I figure that's an appropriate name for this little pity party of ours" Maria began, her smile back in place, "And I think our mission statement should be 'Stop thinking about our non-significant others and try to have a good time this summer'. This, like dark cloud thing, is not good"
Max protested weakly "But I love Liz"
"That's not the point Max, the point is for us to try to take our minds off the matter" she patted both of the guys on their backs with a stiff grin.
Max just went back to brooding as did Alex.
"Ok look", she turned to Max getting his attention "There's no point in you wasting the next few months pining over Liz and thinking of ways to get her back. Liz is in Florida Max, Florida; it won't do you any good until she gets back. So why don't you try to have a good time 'til she's back in the same state, or dare I say city, as you?"
Max appeared to be mulling over what she said as she faced Alex. "As for you. Hey are paying attention?" Alex's head snapped up from his plate. "Isabel obviously isn't ready for a relationship yet so you could either wallow" she put up her hands and used them as scales "or you help out your friends and maybe, just maybe, have fun in the process" She looked between the two "How does that sound?"
A grin slowly crept onto Alex's lips "It sounds like we've got a President for 'The I've Been Dumped Club'"
"I call Vice President" Max said, suddenly enthusiastic about the club.
Alex nodded in agreement and said, "And I'll be a Treasurer"
"Ok" Maria beamed from her seat.
They had just finished the last of their meals and were nervously sharing glances with each other when the check came with three mints. Maria slowly unwrapped the candy, the crinkling of the wrapper disrupting the quiet and popped it into her mouth.
Once the waiter had left Max cleared his throat, "Maybe we should just pay the bill?" he meekly looked at his two friends.
Alex let out a sight of relief "I think that's a good idea. How is stealing fun?" he turned to Maria for an answer.
She swallowed the last of her candy. "Basically every teenager does this. Can you count the amount of times you've read about this or seen it on TV? It's totally normal and …it'll be like our own little adventure that doesn't involve Czechoslovakian problems" she broadly smiled at the two with a nod.
They both hesitatingly agreed. "Ok, so we'll just get up and leave, no big deal," Maria instructed.
The three got up from the table and that's when she started to hyperventilate.
"Hey Maria are you alright?" Max asked with a concern frown.
Alex put his arm around the quivering girl, "She sometimes does this when she's nervous"
Their worried looking waiter came up to see what the matter was. Maria just puffed "I need some fresh air" and the trio left the restaurant without any major fuss.
Once outside the guys stopped to inspect Maria but she insisted "Let's," she breathed, "just…get…into the car"
Taking long breathes she lead the way to the parking lot and climbed into the jeep, still trying to calm her lungs down.
As soon as she had resumed breathing normally Alex asked from the back seat "Was it worth it?"
She turned to look at him with a weak smile "Maybe from now on we should just pay. I mean, there's no real point in trying that again"
"It's a deal" Max agreed, being the noble 'soulful-eyed' type guy he is, he didn't want to go and break anymore rules, unless they had to.
They pulled up in front of Maria's house and she waved her goodbyes as she got out of the jeep. She watched the jeep turn the corner, not knowing that someone else was watching her from across the street. Once, the jeep was out of sight her shoulders slumped and the smile faded as she went to her front door.
A sudden shiver ran over her skin and she looked out into the night, and thought she saw something disappear behind a tree. Assuming it was some animal she turned and went into her home just to fall into a restless sleep.
She awoke with her pillow covered with tears.
A/N: I got such a positive response from my last chapter I had to update soon!
