Many of the characters within this story, and the universe they inhabit, are the intellectual property of Jason Katims Productions.
Roswell: Re-Imagined
Written by Horatio Jaxx
Chapter 23: Buttinskies
It was March of the next year and Kyle Valenti was in the middle of his second most favorite sport, baseball. He had, by this time, become accustomed to Liz's and Max's unusual non relationship, relationship, and he had moved on to a new romantic entanglement for himself. Sara Lange had shown an interest in him in the past. He chose not to reciprocate that interest because of his affinity for Liz. However, due to the loss of his first choice, Sara Lange became the new apple of his eye.
Kyle was not overly taken with his choice of female companionship. He found Sara to be shallow and occasionally annoying. Where he was studious and driven, she was lazy and self-indulgent. The only thing that qualified her to be at his side was her looks. Kyle was very much attracted to her physically, and he secretly hoped that Liz would become jealous at the sight of him with her. She was quite to the contrary regarding Kyle's new romantic interest. Liz was happy to see that he had a new infatuation. That emboldened her to be even more conspicuous about her friendship with Max. She began greeting him when they passed in the hall, and she maneuvered a seat next to him in biology. However, despite those tiny social adjustments, Max continued to remain aloof with regards to her.
The distance that Max was maintaining was not a reflection of how he felt. More than anything, he wanted to be with Liz. It was his concern for Isabel and Michael, and for Liz, that he maintained their non-romantic relationship. Max did not know where his life was going or how things would end up for him. The only thing that he knew for sure was that something, seemingly alien to this world, was calling to him. He suspected that one day he would find out who or what that was, and the answer to his existence would be revealed with that discovery. His greatest fear, with regards to that prospect, was that all his earthly attachments would be sacrificed in favor of a future that was planned out for him.
"I need to do this," Liz announced to herself more than to Maria.
"I thought you were going to show it to him in biology?" Maria queried with a confused expression.
As usual for this period, the cafeteria was sparsely populated with senior and junior class students. Kyle and half a dozen jocks, both junior and senior class members, were situated in a far corner having a raucous good time while they ate. Populating the center of the room, at half a dozen different tables, was a mixture of senior and junior class girls and those few boys who felt comfortable intermingling with them. Liz and Maria were situated at the edge of this mixture, one table removed from their closes neighbor. Isabel and her three close friends were in the heart of this mix, laughing and mingling, off and on, with a dozen other people within that cluster. Max and Michael were situated near the opposing corner from Kyle, in an area that was sparsely populated with either solitary or a near solitary collection of students.
"We can't talk there. It has to be here," Liz explained to Maria about what happened to her plan to speak to Max in their biology class.
"What's there to talk about? Just show it to him," Maria countered with a, what's the big deal, look.
"No, Maria, we need to exchange thoughts," Liz corrected with a shocked expression.
"Really, Liz," Maria responded sarcastically. "You're trying to act like you're one of them."
"No, I'm not," Liz answered defensively. "I'm just trying to be a friend," she continued casually after a moment of reflection to find the words and the appropriate manner of expression.
"I think you need to take the hint," Maria replied dryly.
"What hint? There's no hint, Maria," Liz quickly reacted. "He thinks he's protecting me. But I don't need protecting."
"Whatever," Maria answered back mockingly a second before skewering some string beans and inserting them into her mouth.
"You ready?" Liz softly inquired with a look of excitement
Maria was caught off guard by this question. She suddenly looked up from her plate with an expression of alarm on her face.
"What, I'm not going over there," Maria insisted with an inflection of finality.
"You have to," Liz insisted.
"I don't have anything to show him," Maria countered bluntly.
"Maria, he's over there with Michael," Liz quietly stressed with a stern expression. "I need you to help make everything look normal."
"Hey, I don't have anything to say to that delinquent from Mars," Maria countered flatly.
"Michael isn't that bad," Liz replied softly. "I think he's just in a bad mood all the time because of problems at home."
"Please," Maria countered with exasperation. "What problems could he be having?"
"Well for one thing, his father is a drunk, Maria," Liz promptly explained under her breath. "I think his father ran his business nearly into the ground. At least that's the impression I got from Max. And his mother ran off with another man. And that's when his father started beating Michael," she stressed in even a softer voice. "Michael's bedroom is an attic above the garage. He lives there so he doesn't have to be around his dad. Max and Isabel have been taking care of him for years."
Maria gave Liz a suspicious look as she pondered that report from her. Three seconds later she reacted to it with a question.
"You got all of this out of Max's head?"
"Yeah, well it's common knowledge to Max," Liz answered reflectively. "So, I guess that makes it common knowledge to me now."
"Do you have all his memories?" Maria whispered anxiously.
"No," Liz replied passively with an introspective look. "I mean, when we were together, I knew I could access his memories if I wanted to, but they didn't transfer over to me, … you understand?"
"No," Maria stressed with an exaggerated expression.
"I remember what he wanted to share," Liz instructed in a hushed voice. "It's like, who he is was right there on the surface. But specific memories … I think I would have had to think about something specific to bring that to the surface … I mean, I knew I could access them … it was like they were a part of me, but they just weren't on the surface …"
Liz was still pondering this subject when Maria jumped in hysterically.
"Okay, enough with the interspecies talk. My dreams are weird enough right now," Maria insisted with a shake of her head. "There's still something wrong with space-boy over there."
"There's nothing wrong with Michael," Liz whispered at Maria. "Who knows, you might like him if you took the time to know him."
"No way, Liz" Maria reacted with theatrical alarm. "There is no way I could ever like Michael Guerin," Maria insisted emphatically. "Do you remember when I sat next to you for the first time in fourth grade?" Maria inquired with a stern expression.
Liz took a second to think about that before responding with a "yes."
"I did that to get away from him," Maria exclaimed under her breath. "He kept tugging at my hair and hitting me with little bits of paper. I'm telling you, there's something wrong with him."
"Oh please," Liz reacted with a so what look. "A lot of boys did that back then."
"And they're all nuts," Maria retaliated an instant behind.
"Are you coming with me or not?" Liz whispered her question with a stern emphasis.
"Okay, okay," Maria agreed with a look of exasperation.
After taking a moment to marshal her courage, Liz gathered up her tray and the book lying next to it and got up from her seat. Maria, reluctantly, did as well and followed Liz's lead across the cafeteria. Before they got halfway to their destination, Michael noted their approach and reported same to Max.
"All hell, here comes trouble," Michael grumbled under his breath.
"What?" Max inquired as he looked back over his shoulder.
Max took a second to see Liz and Maria coming their way before looking back to Michael with a stern stare.
"Be nice, Michael."
"When am I not nice?" Michael countered with a look of surprise.
"Michael," Max admonished with a word. "The worse thing we can do is act like we don't want them here."
Michael had no response to this other than to sit back in his seat and wait for the inevitable with a look of incredulity.
"Hi, Max," Liz greeted as she set her tray and book down on the table next to where he was sitting.
Trying not to look conspicuous, Liz quickly sat herself in the chair next to Max.
"Hi," Max greeted back nicely.
Maria walked around the table and set her tray down across from Liz and next to Michael.
"Be nice," Maria instructed Michael curtly as she sat down beside him.
Michael's only reaction was to shake his head in disbelief. Isabel and Kyle noted Liz and Maria's seating change with surreptitious looks out the corner of their eyes.
"Max, I remembered something that you … told me before," Liz began tentatively. "And I found something about it that I think you should see."
Liz began maneuvering the book between her and Max just as she finished her statement. Michael noted the title, "Images of New Mexico," and quickly perked up with a surprised look.
"Really, Liz," Michael spoke up before Liz could continue. "You think you're going to find what we're looking for in a book."
"I just thought it might be better than spending your weekends driving around all day." Liz explained her thinking in an unsure tone of voice.
"We tried that," Max advised with a soft smile.
"We're not going to see everything by looking in books," Michael quietly spouted. "It's a waste of time," he finished sternly.
"Hey," Maria jumped in protectively. "Just because it didn't work for you doesn't mean it won't work."
"Yes, it does," Michael rifled back with an irritated look towards Maria. "Every time we found something that looked like it could be it, we would spend the whole day searching for it only to find out that we were wrong."
"Liz, I know you're just trying to help," Max began politely. "But Michael and I have been doing this for a while…"
"Hey, you can at least look at the picture," Maria asserted towards Max from across the table.
"Look, Buttinsky," Michael jumped in. "We've looked at thousands of pictures. Only a fraction of New Mexico is represented in pictures, and we can't get a good read off pictures anyway."
"Buttinsky?" Maria questioned tersely.
"So, what do you do, Max?" Liz questioned softy. "You just drive around looking?"
"We have a search grid," Max explained nicely. "On most weekends, Michael and I will hike one of these grids that we've mapped out. This way we're not missing anything."
"What if this place you're looking for is too far away to travel to in a day?" Liz questioned back. "You can't search the whole state."
"We kind of feel that it's somewhere nearby," Max responded thoughtfully.
Liz accepted that answer with a studied look into Max's eyes.
"Okay, so are you both satisfied that we know what we're doing?" Michael jumped in brusquely.
Maria took immediate offense to the tenor of the remark more than the words.
"So, just look at the picture so we can go," Maria sharply retaliated.
"Yeah, Max," Liz began anxiously as she pushed the book in front of him. "I came across this picture and it reminded me of what I saw that day," she explained as she opened the book to the location marked by a piece of paper protruding from the top.
Max looked at the picture with no expectation one way or the other. But as he continued to study it, his interest grew more and more. After several seconds, Michael noted his intrigue.
"What is it, Max?" Michael questioned with a hint of alarm.
"Michael, look at this," Max instructed as he turned the book around.
Michael studied the picture with growing intrigue. After a dozen seconds of silence, he verbalized his response.
"We have to go there, Max," Michael instructed with urgency.
"Look at where it's at," Max retorted quickly.
"I don't care, Max," Michael sternly overruled. "We have to go there."
"No, Michael," Max sharply countered under his breath. "Not now. It's too dangerous."
"It's always going to be dangerous," Michael argued back. "Max, this could be it. We can't just leave it alone."
"That's exactly what we're going to do," Max answered back in a definitive voice. "It's too far away and it might not be it. You know how pictures are. We've seen dozens of pictures that felt right. But every time we went there, it turned out to be nothing."
"Not like this one," Michael quickly countered.
"No, Michael," Max calmly instructed. "Let's just see if we can get some more pictures of this area. But for now, we'll just keep searching locally. If we haven't found anything better by summer break, we can talk about it again."
That statement infuriated Michael. He pushed himself up onto his feet with one quick motion. His attention did not deviate from Max's face.
"This could be it, Max," Michael declared with intensity. "Every minute we spend exploring someplace else could be a waste of time. Maybe you wouldn't be so willingly to wait if your life wasn't so perfect," he finished an instant before storming away.
Max, Liz, Isabel and Kyle watched him storm out of the cafeteria with looks of either concern or curiosity. Maria watched him leave with a whole new regard.