to.
Max knew Liz was coming down the hall behind him. He wasn't sure exactly
He glanced over his shoulder. Yeah, there she was, striding down the hall like she had somewhere very important to be. Liz always walked like that no matter where she was heading.
'You want a ride home?' he called. Because he hadn't had enough of those totally awkward, numb-brained, tongue-tied moments with Liz.
'Actually, I'm going to the Crashdown,' Liz answered as she caught up to him. 'Papa still hasn't figured out how to do the work schedules on the computer, so I have to show him again.'
Liz spent a ton of time at her family's alien-theme restaurant. Back when he had a total crush on her and she was only thinking of him as her lab partner, Max used to eat at the Crashdown Cafe constantly just to give himself a little more Liz time. He'd hang out, watching her, pretending he wasn't watching her. Now doing that would be too weird for both of them.
'So… Nikolas,' Liz said as they headed out of the building and over to the parking lot.
'Yeah. Nikolas. I'm sorry he was such a jerk. What he said about humans? That was totally unacceptable,' Max said. 'And Isabel didn't even open her mouth to tell him how wrong he was. I couldn't believe that.'
'Max, you shouldn't be apologizing for Nikolas,' Liz answered. 'Just because he's an alien, too, doesn't mean you're responsible for him.'
Max shook his head. 'I think we're all going to have to be responsible for him. If he uses his powers the wrong way, Sheriff Valenti will go after him… and that's dangerous for everyone,' Max said. 'Any ideas?'
'I know,' Liz said. 'I'll throw Nikolas a surprise welcome-to-Roswell party. He'll be so touched that he'll realize I'm not really an insect.'
Max snorted. 'That's better than my plan.'
'Which is?'
'I don't have one,' he admitted. And he needed one. He couldn't let this thing with Nikolas get out of control.
They climbed in the Jeep, and Max pulled out of the parking lot. 'There has to be a way to convince him how dangerous Sheriff Valenti is,' Liz said. 'I know Nikolas thinks he could just use his power to kill Valenti, but he's forgetting that Valenti is part of an organization. If a Project Clean Slate agent ends up dead, I'm sure there would be some kind of investigation, and more agents would show up here.'
'You know that, and I know that, but I don't get the feeling that Nikolas is someone who responds to a logical argument,' Max answered.
'Maybe we could talk to Isabel, and she could talk to Nikolas,' Liz suggested.
'Yeah, because we all know how logical and rational Isabel is,' Max said. His sister hated being told what to do. She really believed rules didn't apply to her. Yeah, she'd been careful with her power lately. But that was only because she was still a little flipped out about what happened with Valenti. Now that Nikolas had convinced her that she shouldn't be afraid of the sheriff, Max wasn't sure what she would do. But he thought Isabel and Nikolas made a very dangerous combination.
'Nikolas obviously made it this far without anyone finding out the truth about him,' Liz said. 'So he can't be totally reckless.'
'Unless he just
'I think an alien killing spree would have made the news,' Liz answered.
Max suddenly realized that he and Liz were actually having a conversation. He said something, she said something, he said something else. No awkward pauses.
He pulled his Jeep up in front of the cafe. Liz reached out and touched his arm, and he felt a jolt go through his body.
'Max, I know you,' she said. 'I know you're thinking that this whole Nikolas-and-Isabel situation is something you have to solve. That it's somehow your responsibility to make sure nothing bad happens. But you can't control everything. You'll make yourself crazy if you try.'
'It's just that if they do go wild and start using their power, we could all end up in danger again,' he said.
'And if that happens, we'll all figure out what to do about it. Together,' Liz told him.
Max nodded. Suddenly he was back to not knowing what to say.
Liz gathered up her purse and backpack, then hesitated. 'Uh, do you think you'll be able to go to the movies with all of us tonight?' she asked, not quite meeting his gaze.
Max didn't know if he'd be able to deal with a movie. What if he ended up sitting next to Liz? He didn't think he could survive two hours next to her in the dark without touching her.
Well, he wouldn't have to test himself tonight. 'I can't make it. I'm starting my new job,' Max said.
'Oh. Well. I hope it goes great.' Liz jumped out of the Jeep. 'Thanks for the ride.'
Max pulled back out into the street and drove the two blocks to the UFO museum. Maybe once he'd worked there a little while, he would suggest doing some kind of deal with the Crashdown. Like if you brought in your museum ticket, you got a free dessert or something.
He shook his head as he pulled into the museum parking lot. He was doing it again. Without even trying, he took everything he saw or read or heard and found a way to connect it back to Liz. Like he was on the way to the museum, so he linked the museum to the Crashdown Cafe because they both had to do with aliens, and then it was easy to connect the Crashdown to Liz because she worked there and her parents owned the place. And that's how he came up with the idea of doing some kind of deal between the museum and the cafe.
Pathetic, he thought.
Max checked his watch. Time to go inside. He climbed out of the Jeep. His new boss, Ray Iburg, had seemed cool at his interview. And working in the museum had to be more fun than his last job-doing research for his dad. Maybe if his dad were a criminal lawyer, it might have been kind of interesting. But his dad did all this environmental law, and Max was sick of reading about oil spills.
He walked through the museum doors, and a white jumpsuit came flying at him. A white jumpsuit covered with rhinestones.
'Your uniform,' Ray Iburg called.
'Thanks, Mr. Iburg,' Max said. 'I'm really looking forward to working here.'
'Ray, you have to call me Ray,' he answered. 'Otherwise I'll feel like I'm a hundred years old.'
Max wondered how old Ray was. His hair was kind of thinning on top, and it had some gray in it. But his skin looked like it could be in the 'after' part of a pimple cream commercial. It was clear and smooth. Max didn't even see one wrinkle.
'I've decided that it's time for the museum to do a full and thorough exploration of the Elvis-alien connection,' Ray said. 'That's why I got the new uniforms. I thought we could draw on some sideburns, too. Or maybe I could make some out of carpet remnants…'
Max nodded as if he had a clue what his new boss was talking about. It was his first day. He wanted to make a decent impression.
'I started a big display around a blowup of that photo of Mars,' Ray continued.
'Mars,' Max repeated. Was the guy insane? Had he just gotten a job working for a complete lunatic?
'You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?' Ray asked.
'Uh, no,' Max admitted. 'I guess I'll have to do some reading or something.'
'There are amazing pictures of the surface of Mars that show a gigantic rock formation sculpted to look like Elvis's face. At least that's what some people think,' Ray explained. 'Carl Sagan had a great quote about it. He said, 'Out of the billions and billions of rocks on Mars, this one just happens to resemble the King. I grudgingly admit this may be a sign of not highly intelligent life but aliens with low standards of entertainment.''
Max felt a bray of laughter building up inside him. He tried to hold it down. He didn't want to offend Ray.
Ray slapped him on the shoulder. 'It's okay to laugh,' he said. 'I laugh about this stuff all the time.' He glanced
