Isabel, struck by the words, looks up at Alex and smiles. “How is it possible that you can always find a way to leave me speechless? No one I know can do that. What’s your secret?”

The light from the kitchen window leaves an Isabel’s face revealed, illuminating her cheekbones and giving her eyes the sparkle that Alex, and so many others, finds so appealing. He reaches out to touch her cheek, but stops, suddenly realizing where he is. Alex pulls his hand back sheepishly and looks down. “No secret.” He ponders exactly what he wants to say. Alex looks back up, a look of sobriety marring his usually unclouded eyes. “Sometimes when you aren’t looking, when you don’t realize anyone else is looking, you actually relax. That’s when you look your best. It’s such a shame that most people don’t get to see how beautiful you can really be when you aren’t trying so hard.”

Isabel, staring into Alex’s eyes, is mute. She can’t decide whether his speech was a compliment or an insult. She turns her gaze away and thinks about what he’s just said. “Sometimes, when I’m alone, I don’t know who I am. I don’t know how to act around myself.” Isabel stands up and begins pacing around the back yard. “Should I be flipping through the latest issue of ‘Vogue,’ planning on what I’ll be getting on my next trip to the Mall? Or should I be studying, concentrating on making those A’s that make Mom so proud? Neither of those is really me. But how do I know that? Maybe all I am is Isabel, Diane’s daughter, Max’s sister, Elle McPherson of the sophomore class.”

“Izzy, you’re so much more than all of that. I don’t know how you can’t see that.”

“Alex, I know there’s something more to me. I just don’t know what that is. It’s really frustrating sometimes, but my personalities sometimes swim races in my mind. Which ever personality wins is the one I will be today.” Isabel sits down, facing Alex. “I feel so confused and repressed. No one understands me. I don’t know who I am and I don’t know how to find out. Why do I have to be so strange? Why does it have to be so difficult?”

“Isabel, you’re far from strange. You’re a teenager. It’s normal.”

Clarity and relief electrifies Isabel’s face. “Really? This is normal? You mean I’m not confused because I…” she looks around, determining if she’s safe, “I’m an alien?” she finishes in a whisper.

Alex smiles because he finally realizes why it means so much for Isabel to be the best, to be the most removed, the most beautiful. In a lot of ways she is, but some of it is just a guise she puts on to hide her own imagined inadequacies.

“No. You’re just like everyone else. You’re human.”

Isabel thinks about this and relaxes visibly. “You really do always know exactly what to say.” Then she sits back, cradling herself into Alex’s arms, and sighs with a smile on her face.

*********

“Is it safe?” Max asks, looking over the balcony.

“Everyone’s asleep. Come on up.” Liz was already dressed for bed in her favorite Powderpuff Girls pajamas.

“Nice p. j.s. I gotta get Izzy some like that for Christmas.” Max smiles as Liz looks down and adjusts her tank top.

“Thank you. Present from Maria.” Liz sets down the tray she has in her hands. “I got us some lemonade and brownies. A little midnight snack.”

Max sits down in the patio chair and takes a brownie. Liz follows suit, unsure of what to do or say. “Oh, I almost forgot. Tobasco sauce.”

“You know me too well,” Max says with a smile.

*But not nearly as well as I’d like* she thinks. She sits down on her patio chair, relaxes, and looks up at the sky. “It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it?”

“Hmm…” says Max, completely consumed by the brownie until he looks at Liz’s profile. “Gorgeous.”

“But I’m sure you’ve seen the sky so often that you probably have it memorized by now, right?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve named the stars.” He smiles as he takes a drink of tobasco flavored lemonade, “That one’s Liz. That one’s Liz. Oh, yeah. Liz, Liz, Liz. That one, right there by the really bright one, that one is Liz. And that one, to the right, that one’s name is Gertrude.”

Liz, blushing and laughing, reaches for a brownie at the same time as Max. Their hands meet and then their eyes. Their gazes, unbroken, send signals to each other. The twinkle in Max’s eye is replaced by a look of contentment. They can communicate without words. What an unusual feeling this is, to be completely spellbound in someone else’s stare!

The air feels suddenly light and the stars disappear because they aren’t being surveyed. Everything disappears. If Max and Liz did not completely trust that they were safe in their chairs, they would have fallen into an oblivion so remote, they could never be found. Faith is the foundation on which they sit, entranced by the night and each other. They are the only inhabitants in the world and they don’t miss anyone.

*I knew it would be like this with you* she thinks.

Max hears her and answers her back. *I knew it would be like this for us*

Liz’s eyes widen because she can actually feel the words pass through the air. She could grab them and save them in a book to remember later, but she lets them float away. There’s no way she can forget this. She feels the wind against her arms as the words brush past and she shivers.

Liz feels an abrupt urge to stand. She walks over to Max’s chair and sits down with him. She reclines back into his arms and he cradles her to him. The stars are once again there for the viewing. *This is for you* he says to her in his mind. Max reaches up into the air and points at the sky. With a glance to make sure she is paying attention, he looks back up and traces his finger through the air, making a line through the entire sky from east to west, splitting the sky in half. When he lays his hand back down, across Liz’s belly, the invisible line he has drawn is replaced with what appears to be millions of tiny stars, rearranged especially for their viewing pleasure.

“Oh, Max, that’s so beautiful!” she says out loud.

*Not half as beautiful as you* Liz looks at him, her eyes misting. His eyes are staring into hers and she can see herself reflected in them. With eyes still open, she reaches up and brushes her lips across his.

*I’ve been waiting a long time for you to do that* he thinks.

*It was well worth the wait, wasn’t it?*

********

Michael and Maria are sitting on the hood of the Jetta, staring at the stars in silence, knees touching. Both are so comfortable with each other that they do not need to speak to make the moment right. Everything seems to have fallen into place for both of them.

Maria looks up, suddenly remembering something. She hops off the car and runs to the passenger side. She comes back with something in her hand.

“Do you like sour worms?”

“Sour Worms?” Michael sits up, confused. “I’ve never heard of them. What are they?”

“They are only the best candy ever made. They’re like gummi bears, but a little sour with sugar coating the outside. Absolutely delicious. Here, have one.”

Michael smiles at Maria and takes the candy she is offering him. His face puckers up and his eyes squint. “Oh, yummy, delicious,” he says, still chewing.

Maria laughs. “I warned you. But you don’t have to eat them if you don’t want.”

“No, I really like them.”

Maria sits back down on the Jetta, careful not to sit too close to Michael. She doesn’t want to push things. Maria isn’t sure of how Michael feels about her. She is the one, after all, who asked HIM out. Maybe he’s just being nice. Liz had told her something about an ex-girlfriend, but she didn’t really get into the specifics.

Maria thinks about Kyle. She’s pretty sure he was hung up on Liz for a long time. Maria waited and waited, missing every opportunity to be with other people that she was presented with. Not that she had to be with someone to feel good about herself. Liz didn’t have anyone after Kyle, but she was not sitting around pining away, missing parts of her life. Liz was the type of person that made things happen.

Maria was used to being guarded, hiding her feelings about romance and love because she was wary of leading the kind of live her mother had. She’s seen her mother lonely, but Amy was always there for Maria, constantly reassuring her that she was special and loved.

Maria is thankful for her friends. Liz and Isabel are always there for her. She has the friendship kind of love, but now she’s looking for something more. So maybe Michael isn’t the one, but it could be fun to get to know him. And she’s really good at friendships.

Everything happens for a reason. There’s a purpose why Michael and Cate walked into her life at that particular moment. She can feel how important they will be to her, and how important she will be to them, she just can’t deduce how or why at the moment. But if there is anything that she’s learned from the past year, it’s that she has patience that she is willing to use.

Maria sighs, sits back, and closes her eyes. Michael looks over at her and sees how contented she is. She looks like she’s just fought a battle and came out on top. Maria looks happy. For some reason, that makes Michael happy. Michael stops, with a jolt, to realize that he remembers feeling that way before. With Kay. The only time he was happy was when Kay was happy.

Maria opens her eyes to find Michael staring at her. Under his gaze she feels comfortable. She smiles at him and reaches out to take his hand in hers. She rubs her thumb against his hand to show him that she’s happy where she is. Michael raises their hands and kisses the palm of her hand, then reaches for another sour worm.