Disclaimer: I own nothing
A/N: So I got the feeling that you guys didn't like the last chapter as much as you did the previous one. No worries, I didn't expect it to out shine Alex singing in an Ursula costume! Hope you like this one though!
Maria's eyes slowly blinked open and she tried to shift but found herself being held firmly against a strong chest. Frowning she looked around her and saw that she was in a hallway. She rubbed her face; she titled her head back and suppressed a gasp. Michael. It wasn't a dream she had shown up at Michael's drunk. In fact, she thought she was still drunk, considering the fuzzy feeling surrounding her.
"Hi" she waved from her spot within his arms.
He glanced down at her and cocked an eyebrow, "Hey"
They arrived at his door. "We're at your apartment," she pointed out; in what she thought was a helpful sort of way.
Nodding he carried her inside and locked the door behind him. Taking her into his bedroom he carefully put her down on his bed. She sighed with content as she felt his arms gracing her skin.
"I'm going to go call your mom," he said turning to go.
She grabbed his arm, "You can't call her," she informed, again trying to be helpful.
"Why not?" he asked looking at her hand around his wrist and the goose bumps that had appeared as soon as her skin had touched his.
"She's out of town" she lifted her other hand, which suddenly felt very heavy and pointed a finger at him, "and you shouldn't tattle"
Slowly slipping his arm out of her grasp he said, "Then you should sleep it off and go home tomorrow"
"Ok" she agreed easily relaxing against the bed. He began to leave the room, "Hey Spaceboy where are you going?"
"To sleep on the couch" he threw his thumb over his shoulder motioning towards the other room.
Stumbling off the bed she wobbled over to him. "No, this is your bed, we should sleep in it" she held onto his shoulder for support.
He peered down at her hand, "I don't think that's such a good idea"
Gently leading him back over to the bed she urged, "It's a good idea. I probably won't even remember in the morning I'm too wasted"
She sat him down on the bed and smiled, "Don't worry I'll keep my hands to myself. No hanky panky"
Smirking up at her, she could see his resolve crumbling and continued to speak, "It's ok, Michael, I won't tell"
"Maria" he began caution in his voice.
"I'll sleep on one side" she motioned to the left side of the bed and almost fell over, "and you'll sleep on the other" she toddled over to her side and lay down. Blinking her wide eyes at him, she smiled, "See? Everything is ok"
Finally he stretched out beside her muffling the voice inside him that was screaming, 'Warning!'
She quickly fell asleep, rolled over to Michael and curled her body against his, and he stayed awake as long as he could enjoying the feeling of her being so close to him.
She woke up with an aching head but feeling more rested then she had since the summer began. Putting her throbbing temple back on her pillow she froze when she found it moving. Suddenly aware of her soundings her whole body went stiff. Her head was on top of, she now remembered, Michael's chest, his arm was wrapped around her waist and her leg lay in-between his.
Lifting her head she saw his slumbering face and inwardly groaned.
'You have to get out of here' she told herself. 'Mom is going to be calling in' she looked over at the clock, 'fifteen minutes. And you probably don't want to be around when he wakes up'.
Though a large part of her wanted to stay in his embrace for as long as possible the reasonable side of her forced her to carefully crawl out of his arms. Quietly she crept out of the room. With one last longing gaze she left Michael's apartment closing the door gently behind her.
Starting the walk home she squinted against the sunlight as her head pounded and her stomach churned. There was nothing more she wanted then to turn around and creep back in bed with him but she knew better. She would miss her mother's call, causing her to worry and probably get the Sheriff to come over and…she knew that once Michael had awoken, he wouldn't be friendly.
He'd probably try to get her out as soon as possible and tell her again how he couldn't be with her and she'd end up pleading to him then running out of his place crying.
She nodded to herself, 'Leaving before he got up was a good plan'.
A little while after she left Michael awoke to an empty bed. He looked around the room and listened for any noises that would indicate that she was still there. Turning over and grabbing the other pillow to sleep on, he asked himself if it was all a dream, it wouldn't have been the first time that his dreams of Maria had been vivid, but that was when he realized he could still smell her shampoo on the pillow he was holding. He gritted his teeth at his foolishness, how could he have let her stay there with him? Taking comfort in the fact that she had left before he had to go through the pain of kicking her out he tried to go back to sleep, then maybe he could feel her sleeping against him one more time.
Approaching her front door she heard the phone ringing from with in. Quickly she went inside and jumped to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Maria!" her mother screeched and Maria grabbed her head.
"Yeah Mom?"
"Why did it take you so long to answer?"
"I was asleep" she rubbed her temple and went to get a class of water.
Hanging up the phone a little while later she sat down at the kitchen table and drunk the water and repeatedly filled it up just to drown it again. From her little experience of being drunk, she knew that hydration should help a hangover. Grabbing the aspirin she swallow two pills and sat down laying her head on the table. Her mind began to go over what had happened the night before but she remembered so little of it and it hurt to think.
The shrill ringing of the phone made her groan in pain as she went to pick it up. "Listen Mom, I'm fine"
"Good to hear" a male voice responded.
Frowning she identified, "Alex?"
"Yeah, how are you feeling?"
"Take a wild guess"
He chuckled, "That's what I thought"
Moaning in response she fell back into her chair. "I think my head is going to explode"
"So, how much do you remember from last night?"
Squinting at nothing in particular she sifted through her thoughts and didn't come up with much, "I remember arriving at the party, going to dance while you began devouring a bag of chips, taking a few shots, you sitting on a couch, me telling you I'd see you later, taking a few more shots…" then her memory went fuzzy.
"I believe it was about then that I showed up to take you home"
"I'm trying to remember…" she began resting her temple against the cool table.
"Take it easy Maria, nothing terrible happened, I wouldn't have let it" he assured her.
She nodded, "I know Alex, nothing terrible happened when you were around." 'It was when you left that I some how ended up at Michael's' she finished in her head.
"I'll see you later Maria, I've got to get to work. Get some rest before your shift," he suggested.
"My shift?"
"Yeah, aren't you on in like three hours?"
Groaning she said goodbye to Alex and hung up the phone before going to her room and crashing onto her bed.
Luckily Michael wasn't on the same time as her, so she was able to have a fairly uneventful shift, but because of her hangover she had managed to drop a few plates, lose tips due to her growling demeanor and screw up some orders.
Exiting the Crashdown she put her sunglasses on and took another gulp of water. Heading for her car she didn't notice someone watching her from behind. When she got into her car however, she saw the darkly dressed figure leaning against the back of the Crashdown.
She pulled off her sunglasses to make sure her eyes were seeing correctly but by the time she had done that, he was gone. 'I can't deal with this right now' she thought to herself slipping her glasses back on and pulling out of the parking lot. 'My head just isn't clear yet'.
A few days later Max had returned. The three sat in a local restaurant.
"The I've Been Dumped Club, reunited" Alex said enthusiastically.
They clinked glasses. "What'd I miss?"
Alex and Maria shared glances before Alex told him, "Maria and I went to a party…and Maria got drunk"
Max snorted water out of his nose and grabbed a napkin to wipe it away as he coughed out "What?"
"I got a little tipsy" she tried to clarify.
Alex shook his head as if to prevent her comment, "She was smashed"
"I leave for a few days…" Max began with disbelief.
"And she ends up an Alchie" Alex finished with a smile.
"That's enough," Maria scowled at him, "Felix". He looked to her with surprise. "Ha, you thought I didn't remember"
"Felix?" Max asked feeling confused at the information he was trying to process.
"It's his new name"
"No it's not"
"Oh yes it is" she laughed.
"Don't you have an AA meeting to go to or something?"
She hit him on the arm and Max held up his hands to stop them with a smile, "What else happened?"
Maria looked between the two, 'It's as good a time as any' she convinced herself. Trying to just pass it off she said, "I ended up sleeping in Michael's bed"
"What?" they both asked with shock.
Nonchalantly she added, "With him in it"
"How did this happen?" Alex asked disbelievingly, "I put you in the cab, gave him the money and your address. How did you end up in his bed?"
Maria meekly looked at them, "I don't really remember"
Max raised his eyebrows with incredulity.
"The information about that night is all slowly coming back to me" she said quickly, "I only remembered the Felix thing this morning"
"I don't think I'm ever leaving you alone in Roswell again" Max said with wide eyes.
"Nothing happened" she told them sternly, "I definitely would've remembered if it did"
"Are you sure?" Alex asked skeptically.
"Believe me," she sighed, "Michael has this way about him…" she trailed off, "I would never forget"
"Ok, we're boarder lining on too much information here"
"I'll stop there Felix"
"Hey!"
Max and Maria laughed at his indignant objection.
A/N: And another one ends on a happy note!
