Snapshot · (Roswell Fanfiction) · √

20. Dating the Stalker

A/N: Sorry for the wait :S
A busy weekend combined with sickness is not very constructive for updating :(

The Apartment
Friday evening, in the beginning of January
(2005) Max is 19, Liz is 18

"That was still fucked up."

Liz reached out to close the slightly ajar bathroom door as she heard the front door open and the voices of her brother and Max slipping into their apartment.

Michael and Liz had lived there for a little more than a year and she loved it. She loved the independence, the freedom and the fact that she could come and go as she liked.

Something that she was about to discover wasn't always true when her brother and his best friend decided to add themselves to the mix.

"Wouldn't you have gone back?" Michael's voice asked. "He ended up in a freaking wheelchair and she ended up with that dude."

Liz leaned into the mirror with the mascara brush aimed for her eyelashes. She always found this particular step tricky. It was not as if she had a lot of practice. She rarely ever used make-up. But she thought she would give it a go today.

The door open behind her, almost having her smear mascara on the top of her cheek and she met Max's eyes in the mirror.

"Ooops, sorry," he mumbled before doing a double check and noticing her dolled up face.

Instead of walking out like he had been about to, he casually leaned against the doorframe and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Going out?"

She dropped her eyes to the brush and focused on pushing it back into the black fluid.

How was it that whenever he was around, the air seemed to be sucked out of the room leaving them with a throbbing vacuum?

"Yes," she replied shortly.

He folded his arms across his chest. "Maria?"

She swallowed, not really sure why she was nervous all of the sudden. "I have a date."

She looked up just in time to observe the surprise flicker across his face followed by the hardening of his gorgeous facial features. "A date?"

She put the mascara down on the small ledge below the mirror and slowly picked up the translucent lip gloss. "Uh-huh."

She felt his eyes on her as she slightly parted her lips to apply the glistening product.

"With who?"

She briefly met his dark eyes in the mirror before putting down the lip gloss as well. "Sean."

She could tell that he hadn't expected that. Sean had always had a thing for Liz. Liz knew it. Max knew it. The whole school probably knew it. But Liz had never shown any interest back. Quite the contrary, she had always sighed and complained about how he would more or less follow her around everywhere. The stalking part was not really appreciated by Michael and Max. Which might be why Max was now looking at her like she'd gone crazy.

"Sean? As in Stalker Sean?"

"He's not a stalker," Liz objected, threading her fingers through her hair to smoothen it out.

His face turned pensive and he looked at her quietly, which had her trying to find something to occupy herself with. She picked up the blush and swirled a large brush into it before applying it to her cheeks.

"Is this because of me?" he asked quietly, which had her lowering the brush and looking at him through the mirror.

She felt a shiver run through her and she lowered her eyes to regain control. She suddenly felt like crying.