Snapshot · (Roswell Fanfiction) · √

11. Stranded

In the Middle of Nowhere
One month before Christmas
(2004) Michael is 20, Max is 19, Liz is 18

"Transformers are way cooler!"

"They're not real!!"

"Oh and Ninja Turtles are?"

She huffed. "You know what I mean."

"No, little Lizzie. You're not making any sense."

Michael sighed. "Would you two shut up for just a second?"

Without taking his eyes off Liz, Max answered his best friend. "We're having an important discussion here."

Michael sighed again. "Important my ass."

"But Turtles are funny."

"So's your face."

Liz's head fell backwards with a loud exasperated sigh. "Would you stop that already?!"

Michael and Max were currently in this phase in their lives when every statement could be met with a 'so is your face' or 'so is your mother'. It had been slightly funny when they had started, but five months of that crap kind of took the joy out of it.

Max opened his mouth to respond when the car started to shake and slow down. Horror filtered through Max's eyes for a split second, disrupting his general cool countenance.

"What did you do?" he asked Michael, leaning in to look for any warning lights on the panel.

"I didn't do anything. It just..." The car made some odd coughing sounds until it came to a complete stop. "...died."

Liz stared at the two males occupying the front seats. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. The expression of horror mixed with concern for his 'baby' looked really amusing on Max's face, while Michael looked really funny trying to pretend he wasn't aware of the death glares Max was sending his way.

But twenty minutes later, Liz was very close to crying.

"Whose brilliant idea was it to take this piece of junk through the desert anyway?" Liz muttered.

"Shut up," Max warned. No one called his dark blue 1968 Chevrolet Impala 'a piece of junk' and lived.

"You know, Maxie. They are building new cars now. New cars, so that you won't have to drive around in old cars-"

"Liz-" Michael warned, but it was too late.

"Would you shut up for a second?!" Max erupted, staring at her with wild eyes. Something that had Liz fascinated instead of intimidated. "You bitch and moan about the quality of my car when it would be nice if you would help us figuring out a solution!"

She shrugged. "That's easy. Since you two boneheads have both dysfunctional cell phones, we just have to sit and wait for someone to pass by."

Michael looked up from the display screen of his cell phone which was still displaying the lack of reception in this area.

"How many cars have we met the last hour, Liz?"

Liz bit her lower lip. She had no idea. She had been concentrating on Max's face the whole time to see his every facial expression as they battled out another battle of wills.

Looking nonchalant, she shrugged again. "About two."

"Zero, Lizzie! No fucking cars whatsoever!"

"Hey," Max said calmly to Michael, looking at Liz oddly. "Take it down a notch, Michael."

Sure, Max had been the one screaming at Liz just a second ago, but he always screamed at Liz. Yelling was the foundation of their relationship. But Michael almost never raised his voice at his little sister and Max immediately saw the hurt creep into Liz's eyes at Michael's voice level.