Starry Starry Night

Maria cast a long, bored glance over the Crashdown Menu. It was late, an hour from closing and there was barely enough work for herself and Liz to split between them. This didn’t seem to bother Liz, who was happily hunched over her diary, filling in all the juicy details about Max Evans. Every couple of minutes she looked over at the booth where the three aliens sat, deep in conversation. Max caught her eye a few times and smiled, giving her one of his devastatingly cute-boy-next-door grins.

Maria watched this little performance, trying to amuse herself, but found it only made her want to vomit. Michael hadn’t looked over once, not once and it was beginning to grind on her. What was with that unreadable, stonewall thing anyway?

“You know I’ve never realised it before but some of this stuff doesn’t sound so appetising. The Chewbacca burger? Why would you WANT to eat that, I mean, it sounds so disgusting.”

Liz smiled. “Why don’t you get up and do something? You’re starting to get on my nerves.”

“What is there to do?”

“You could take Michael’s order. They’ve been there for five minutes and you haven’t gone over there yet.”

Maria sighed dramatically and heaved herself off the stool. “Can’t you do it Lizzy? He’s so..... mean. And besides, don’t you want to talk to Max?”

Liz blushed and closed her diary. “Could say that any louder? I don’t think Poland heard you. I thought we were practising the mysterious approach..... we’ll go together okay?”

Nodding, Maria grabbed a pad and pen off the counter and made her way grudgingly after Liz. Michael looked up and quickly put his head back down. ‘Obviously he is trying to make all this as painful as possible, Maria thought bitterly, well I’m not gonna play into his hands. I’ll show him I couldn’t care less’.

Poising her pen over the page she began. “Welcome to the Crashdown can I take your order?”

Max threw a look at Isabel who smiled silently. “Hey Maria”, he said, trying not to laugh, “I’ll have the Saturn Rings”.

“I’m trying to lose five pounds so I’ll settle for an Alien Blast”, Isabel sniggered, less able to control herself.

“And for you,” Maria muttered, grinding her teeth, “SIR”.

Michael sat up and stared at the menu. He had that cocky, indignant look on his face- the one that told Maria he didn’t care either. She hated that look. At that moment she was really prepared to slap it off him, she could feel her hand tingling at the thought. If he hadn’t had spoken first.

“I’ll have the Chewbacca Burger. THANKS.”

Liz allowed herself a little giggle at his order. Maria remained totally serious, permitting only a whispered, “Figures”, before stalking off toward the kitchen. Liz stayed behind, smiling and chatting to Max. Isabel looked around the room, trying to find something better to do than watch her brother talking baby to Liz. Michael shifted in his seat, uncomfortable at their behaviour. He and Maria had not been getting on well lately, fighting and sniping at each other. He could hardly bear to watch Max’ love life going so well when his had crashed and burned.

Maria wiped the counter down with a damp cloth and tried not to wonder what Michael was thinking. She considered any thought of him to be a signal that she was weak. If she wondered about him at all, she was nothing more than pathetic, a girl that loses it when she hasn’t got a guy by her side. Sticking her chin out and keeping her head up, Maria made a vow that she wouldn’t be the girl who needed Michael. She would be aloof and mysterious, she would go out with other guys.

This was all very well but she didn’t want to go out with other guys. Michael was the guy she wanted, he was her guy. When he kissed her she knew it was right, she thought it would change his ways- the love of a good woman and all that jazz. But lately she could feel the old Michael creeping back in. They didn’t talk so much anymore, he kept going off on his own. It was like he was distancing himself from her. As though he was finding it hard getting used to the thought of putting down roots in Roswell. Max and Isabel were so settled and if they weren’t prepared to leave then she knew he wouldn’t.

Liz came up behind her and rested her head against her back. “Don’t worry too much about Michael. He’ll come around. Hey, lets do the quiz in my magazine. While we’re waiting for their order.”

Maria nodded and positioned herself on a stool. “Fire away quiz lady”.

“Okay first question”, Liz began, flicking her hair over her shoulder, “What is your favourite type of kiss?”

Maria screwed her nose up. “I didn’t think it was this sort of quiz.”

“Maria. Just answer the question. Is it A: Slow and romantic? B: Hard and Passionate? Or C: Depends on the situation?”

Sighing, Maria looked to the ceiling for inspiration and thought for a minute. “Since there isn’t D: Any way I can get it I’ll opt for A. Slow is good.”

Liz pulled a pen out of her pocket and marked Maria’s answer. “Next question. Where would you most like to have sex?”

“Liz this isn’t my style.”

“A: In a luxury hotel room with waterbed. B: In a car lot or C: In your house, on your parent’s bed. Ugh! Would you really pick B or C?”

“I pick none of the above”.

“You can’t”.

“I can”, Maria stated matter-of-factly, “Cos it doesn’t include the situation I have dreamed about ever since I found out with my mom got up with those guys. I abstain”.

“What dream situation? You never told me”. Liz looked sceptically at Maria, knowing they told each other everything.

“Well you didn’t tell me either”.

“What makes you think I have one?”

“Everyone had one. Well every girl, it’s the way our minds work. But I think most boys would settle for that parking lot”. They giggled and Liz set down the quiz, having found another, more interesting discussion topic.

“So where is it? Where would you like to have sex?”

The Crashdown went deathly quiet. Michael sat bolt upright and looked sharply in Maria’s direction. Max felt his eyebrow raise and Isabel looked on eagerly. Maria put her hands to her face, trying to cool the fierce blush that was smoothing itself over her cheek. Liz began giggling and thumped her head off the counter. Which started Maria giggling. Soon they were laughing like loons and the three in the corner didn’t know what was going on.

Michael swallowed uneasily. He didn’t like where their conversation had veered into- it was not a safe area. Didn’t girls talk about....performance? Didn’t they compare tiny details and gossip about what a guy was like, in kissing terms? He felt his hands go clammy. This was not good. With the way things had been going recently Maria was not going to be kind about him. He could feel his reputation as a mysterious, man-about-town getting torn to strips before his very eyes.

Max clicked his fingers inches in front of Michael’s face, bringing him back into the living world. “What’s up Michael? Scared Maria’s said too much to Liz?”

“No”, Michael replied, trying to maintain a neutral tone, “I couldn’t care what she’s saying”. At this Max laughed and shook his head.

“What is with you two? One second I’m finding you examining each other’s tonsils in the eraser room, the next you could cut the tension with a knife. Have you two had a fight?

“It’s nothing. Just girl hormones”.

Liz, meanwhile, was apologising profusely to Maria. “I am soooo sorry, I didn’t mean to, you know, blurt it out like that”.

“It doesn’t matter honestly. But I think you nearly gave Michael a heart attack.” They both giggled.

“So you never did tell me. Where’s this mystery place?!”

Maria glanced over her shoulder, making sure they weren’t being watched, then leant in dramatically toward Liz.

“I saw this film once, some weepy, I love you thing, where this girl and guy were, like, totally crazy about each other but couldn’t be together. I forget why. So anyway they go through all this stuff and eventually get it on. And their first time was, get this, under the stars, in a field of poppies.”

Liz sighed and smiled. “How romantic. What was the film?”

“What has that got to do with anything? The point is that ever since then I have had this crazy obsession with the idea and have always wanted to do it. I even made a wishing at a wishing well that someday someone would make it happen for me Except there are two slight problems”.

“Which are?”

“One: The guy I’ve imagined I’m with in these fantasies has always been Michael. Or Brad Pitt. And the way things are going it isn’t likely to happen with either. Two: I get hypothermia if I spend too long at the refrigerator. Could you see me at the dead of night lying on the ground for any guy? Even if it was Brad Pitt?”

“I have to admit I see your point. Michael will come round you know. And anyway I didn’t know you wanted to take things that far with him”.

“Oh don’t get me wrong”, Maria said, crossing her legs, “I haven’t seriously thought about it. I mean I don’t know. Sex. With Michael. Seems like a very grown up thing to do and I’d have to think about it. But it’s just always been my little fantasy. Please do not try to tell me you haven’t thought about going that far with Max.”

Liz pursed her mouth and turned her head away. “No comment”, she said, taking on a posh voice.

“Well there’s a big surprise. You don’t have to tell me. I know how your mind works”.

Gasping, Liz threw the soggy cloth at Maria, who squealed and threw it back. Liz was just about to attack again when she was interrupted by her father, wondering why they hadn’t bothered closing. Stifling smiles the pair began hurriedly clearing up, their conversation forgotten.

The following night

Maria ran her hand over the counter, desperately looking for something to do. What was it with people? Did nobody eat out anymore? Tonight was even worse than the previous- there wasn’t single customer in sight. Everything was done- she had even cleaned the milk shake machine, something she didn’t do without good reason.

The door jingled behind her and Michael sauntered in. He took her breath away, despite her quiet anger with him at the moment. He just looked too good in black, so good he should come with some sort of warning. She loved that t shirt, the way it clung to his skin. He was irresistible. Almost.

“We’re closed.”

“Really? I think I have another hour to place my order.”

Keeping a steely look on her face, Maria hopped off her seat and walked casually over to him. Pen hovering over her pad she breathed, “In that case, what can I get for you MICHAEL?”.

“Actually I was hoping for you”.

Maria frowned, unsure what was going on. “What is with this talking in riddles? Talk sense. If you want something then you’re gonna have to communicate in basic English. I don’t talk Moody Alien”.

Michael sighed, exasperated. “Here it is in Frosty Human then. I. WANT. YOU. TO. COME. WITH. ME.”

“Why?”

“Just because. So take off your apron, lock the door and lets go”.

“I can’t just go Michael”, Maria replied, getting rapidly bored with his demanding stuff, but finding her curiosity was building. “There’s stuff to be done.”

“Such as...”

“Just stuff. I have to balance the till and..and... sort some things out”.

Michael raised his eyebrow and Maria felt her knees wobble. This was not the way she’d imagined this going. What happened to being tough? Where was Hurricane DeLuca? Gently Michael curled his arms around her waist and undid her apron. She could feel his hot breath at the base of her throat and she felt an overwhelming urge to reach up and kiss him. Only a few centimetres divided them. She could just bridge the gap and his lips would be on hers. If he would only...

“Let’s go”. Michael threw the apron onto the counter and guided a bemused Maria out of the door, locking it behind him.

“The lights Michael”.

“We’ll get them later”.

Dropping into the driver’s seat of her car, he dug her keys out of her jacket pocket and pulled onto the road. Maria didn’t realise where they were headed until they reached his apartment. Taking her wrist he herded her out of car and up to his apartment. Maria flicked on the lights and glanced round. All quiet and normal. Perhaps slightly tidier than usual but other than that there was nothing that excused his removing her from the Crashdown. She silently prayed she wasn’t going to get one of those “It isn’t you, it’s me” talks. She’d heard enough of those from Michael.

Michael watched her looking round. ‘She’s wondering why she’s here’ he thought, smirking. He loved confused Maria. She was so cute, with that ditzy little frown on her face. He also knew she was scared of what he was going to do. ‘Right now she’s preparing herself for one of my speeches. Too bad I’m gonna disappoint her’.

He moved to her and sipped her jacket off her shoulders. Maria stared at his chest, trying not to hope for what she hoped was going to happen next. ‘What if he kisses me? she worried, do I kiss him back and abandon my strong, too tough for men approach? Even worse, what if he doesn’t kiss me?’ He didn’t kiss her, he just captured her hand in his, put his other hand over her eyes and lead her into his bedroom.

It was dark in there, Maria could tell that even though she couldn’t see. She wondered, despite herself, if he’d tidied the place up. There was no denying it Michael was a pig. The last time she’d been here she’d had to physically restrain herself from grabbing a cloth and cleaning the whole apartment. Gingerly she sat on the bed, feeling more nervous than she could ever remember feeling. Even more than the night she had told Michael she loved him for the first time.

Lightly Michael traced her cheekbone with the back of his finger. Softly he whispered, “Lie down”.

Maria’s eyes widened beneath his fingers and her heart began somersaulting so fast she thought it was going to jump clean out of her chest. What was he gonna do? This was NOT part of the plan. Kissing, yes, touching, maybe, lying down on the bed NO NO NO NO NO! Maria lay down on the bed.

Silently Michael eased himself down beside her. Carefully he removed his fingers from her eyes, reminding her to keep them shut. Maria’s heart had stopped altogether now- her whole body still in anticipation. Mouth ever so slightly open, she waited. What was he going to do? Would she ever recover?

‘This is it, she thought, her throat dry and crackly, this is the moment of truth’.

“Open your eyes”.

Frowning Maria opened her eyes and found herself gazing up at the stars. Well, glo-stars. The whole ceiling was covered in them, it was as if Michael had somehow taken away the ceiling so all they could see was the night sky. Sort of. It was kind of a makeshift night sky but it was hers.

“Why....how....I don’t understand”.

She heard Michael chuckle and she knew he was smiling. “You made a wish right? Well here’s my attempt at making it come true.”

Maria didn’t understand. ‘What is he talking about? she puzzled, turning his words over and over in her head, where has this come from.....’ Suddenly it came to her. Last night at the Crashdown.

“You heard me? How? You were, like, so far away?” She shuffled round, facing him in the dark.

“One of the benefits of being ‘not of this earth’. Excellent hearing.” Maria groaned as she remembered what she had said. Thinking about having sex with Michael. Brad Pitt- it was too shocking to think about. He had listened to every word, what must he think of her?

“You know I say a lot of stupid things. I mean I don’t think and the words, they just come out of my mouth, and then I’ve said things I don’t mean. You shouldn’t believe anything you hear me say”.

Michael nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close into his chest so he was whispering into her hair. “Okay I won’t. I won’t listen to what you say. And I won’t tell you that I think that this was the best idea you’ve ever had. And I won’t tell you that I’ve been thinking about everything that you’ve been thinking about. And I definitely won’t tell you that I would really like to do that stuff we’ve been thinking about. Will that do?”

Maria felt her body come to life. Deftly she pulled his mouth onto hers, a long, searing kiss that made her very fingers and toes tingle. Michael responded, shuffling closer until there was nothing separating them but the fabric of their clothes. The kiss seemed to last forever, cocooning them in this tiny bubble away from the outside world and everyone in it.

Reluctantly Maria broke away. Rubbing her finger tip over Michael’s mouth she smiled as he smoothed his hand over her hair. Abruptly something struck her.

“You can’t have as good hearing as you thought”, she whispered, watching a frown develop on his face, “This wasn’t the whole fantasy. There was the...”

Before she could say another word he snapped on the light. Maria gasped. They were surrounded by a sea of poppies. It was only then that she realised there was an extraordinary, pungent sweet smell hovering in the air. They were everywhere, their wild red shade colouring the whole room. Maria couldn’t remember seeing so many flowers in one place before. Silently she felt excited- this must have cost Michael a fortune. Maybe he wasn’t going cold on her after all.

“I can’t believe you did this. You are such a surprising one Michael Guerin”.

Michael smiled, replying, “Yeah well I got the feeling you thought I was going off you. This was my SURPRISING way of saying I’m not”.

“But you know”, Maria said, winking and reaching across to the lamp, “We haven’t got round to the best part of the fantasy”.

“Oh really”, Michael asked, feigning shock, “We’ve had flowers and stars...there’s still something else? Well then tell me Miss DeLuca what is the best part?”

Still grinning Maria batted her eyelids, whispering, “Well let me just show you what I mean”. Darkness descended on the room and the rest, as they say, is Roswell history.