Author: Lorastar
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Roswell. Obviously.
Summary: Max and Liz are best friends. They fall in love. End of story. Just a happy fluff piece, after a little bit.
Rating: Who knows? We'll go with adult for some language and possible adult natured scenes.
Author’s Note: I know all of you are rolling your eyes and screaming “Not another story by HER!” at your computer screens, so I apologize. But I just finished Static Fight and feel the need to work on another story; this one should be finished a lot sooner than SF was. This story is dedicated to Danny, my wonderful fiancee and one of my best friends.
‘I hate goodbyes. I need another one as badly as I need Jake “needs-to-get-laid” Armstrong telling the whole damn football team that he screwed me under the bleachers. Maybe if Armstrong was the one saying goodbye, it might be a good thing, but not when the one saying goodbye is my best friend.
How did things ever end up this way?
What did I do to make Max Evans fall in love with me?
And what happened to make him want to say goodbye to me so many times?’
The tears are streaming down my face, and I wipe at them quickly, knowing he hates it when I cry. Staring into his eyes as he whispers the words forlornly into the air around us, I see the moisture springing up, and the sincerity of his words.
“And I know that you don’t love me, so I…I guess this is goodbye.”
He turns to walk away, to leave me here. Alone.
“No.”
“What?”
The tears drip down from my eyes and I allow them to cascade. Damn him. Let him see that his walking away has its consequences. Let him see that he’s not the only one hurting by his confession.
“Are you seriously going to tell me that and walk away? Are you leaving me? You SWORE that you would never leave me. You FUCKING swore to me.” My voice rises violently and I stand there, screaming at him at the top of my lungs, rage flowing through my veins.
“Liz.” His face crinkles in pain as he stares at me.
“Don’t just ‘Liz’ me. You are my best friend. My best friend.” I can’t believe this. I am losing my best friend. So much for my happy ending.
His strong hands run through his hair shakily, mussing up the dark strands and causing them to fall onto his forehead haphazardly. Warm amber eyes meet mine and I look away quickly.
“Why are you doing this?” My voice shakes, my eyes plead.
“I lied to you, Liz. I will regret that until my dying day. I’m so sorry for lying to you.”
The blankets lying on the floor attempt to thwart my attempts to reach out to him; as I rise from my spot on my bed, I kick them away, but fall down. Max reaches out to catch me, and my small frame crashes down into his arms.
***
“I’m so confused!” I tease him from the floor of his room, my head resting on his shoulder.
“The movie’s made for surfers, it’s not that hard to follow.”
“For you, no.”
His black beanie rests on the floor between us, and I reach for it, sitting up, laughing as his head falls back onto the pillow and his attention once again turns to Point Break.
I pull on the beanie and fix my straight dark hair, laughing again at the movie, and quoting the smart ass Reeves. “’Do either of you have anything remotely interesting to say?’ ‘I surfed my first tube today.’ What’s that mean?”
“It’s when you’re in a wave that’s closed around you. You look cute in a beanie.”
I shake my head defiantly. “You say that all the time.” I smile as his gaze rests on me.
“You look like one of those hot snowboard girls.” He says, his eyes searching out mine, a smile on his face.
“Aaw…you’re so cute!”
“You’re cute.”
“No, I’m not. But you’re cute enough for both of us.” I reply, throwing myself back onto the ground and resting my head on his shoulder again.
“Yea, you are. You’re cute enough for all the people in China.”
“Am not! I’m cute enough to make up for one ugly ass!”
“Parker, it’s a good thing you’re funny as hell.” He says as he busts up laughing.
“I’m glad you’re my best friend.”
“Ditto.”
***
He catches me before I hit the ground and pulls me up and into his strong arms. “I’m so sorry, Liz. I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t care that you lied to me! I don’t care about that! This doesn’t have to be in the way of our friendship.” I tell him as I try to disentangle myself from him, my tears still cascading from my eyes, but now onto his arms as he steadies me.
“Iloveyou.”
“What?”
“I love you! How can that NOT get in the way of our friendship? You’re the girl for me. You’re my one true love.”
My head wobbles as I shake it from side to side. “No, I’m not. We’re seventeen, and you’ve already been in love three times. I’m just another girl. I’m your best friend; it’s easy to see why you think you have these certain feelings. But they’re fleeting! They’ll go away-“
“No, Liz, they won’t. I’ve never felt this way about a girl before. Every time I look into your eyes…I…I know that you’re the one.”
“What about Tess? You loved everything about her! You loved her hair, her voice.”
“I loved the music she listened to and that she skated. That’s all I knew about her.”
“You loved her makeup, the books she read, and her voice, her clothes, her hair, the way she spoke, and the things she was into. You loved everything about her. And that was only last month.”
“Liz. Listen to me. I never loved her. I love YOU. And only YOU. I know that you don’t love me, and that…that you hate that I love you, so that’s why I’m saying goodbye. I don’t want to hurt you. Every time that you are in pain, it reminds me that I’ve been lying to you this whole time. And I never want to do that again.”
I pout at him as he tries to walk away and out of my life.
“So don’t lie to me. But don’t leave me.” I add the last part in a whisper as he turns around and smiles, bittersweet: relief that he’s finally told me the truth mingling with the pain of leaving.
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