Rating – PG
        Category – M/M
        Disclaimer – not mine
        Dedication – For Jen. Thanks for help with the title! From the mouse! ;-)
        Summary – Liz and Maria talk about Michael and Maria’s relationship. Set mid-first season.
        Distribution – Take it. Please.
 

    The first thing Liz noticed as she walked into the kitchen of the Crashdown was the ice cream. Maria almost never ate ice cream, she said the calories went to all the wrong places.
     “What’s wrong?” Liz asked her friend as she sat next to her on the semi-clean floor.
     “He wants me back again,” the blonde admitted as she shoveled another spoonful of Ben and Jerry’s finest into her mouth.
     Liz sighed loudly and took the spoonful of ice cream Maria offered her. “I hope you told him you’re too good for him.”
    Something akin to a mix between a laugh and a sob escaped Maria’s lips. “I was going to,” she said. “I was going to tell him I couldn’t do this again. I couldn’t lose myself in him just to be by myself again in a month. Then he kissed me and I couldn’t remember why, exactly, I didn’t want him back.”
    “You didn’t,” Liz groaned. “He’s never caused you anything but heartache!”
     Maria had to smile. “That’s not true,” she said. “There are moments, when I’m with him, that I can’t even imagine being anything other than deliriously happy. Granted, those moments are few and far between, but they’re priceless.”
     “You deserve better than a few, sparse moments of happiness,” Liz insisted.
     “I don’t know how to explain it to you, Liz. It’s like it’s this emotional boomerang syndrome. Symptoms include ending up back where you were every time even though you know you’re going to be thrown again. I’m convinced it’s genetic.”
     “Emotional Boomerang Syndrome?” Liz asked, trying not to laugh.
     Maria nodded, “My case it’s terminal. Nothing to be done. I’m doomed.
    “Promise me you’ll bury me with Ben and Jerry?” Maria asked, gesturing with her spoon to the nearly empty carton of ice cream.
    Liz laughed, “Maria, you aren’t really a boomerang, you know. You could just break things off and leave it at that.”
    Maria sighed, “I guess you don’t understand. You have Max. You’re soul mates and all and that’s great. But, do you think that happens to everyone? I can’t sit around waiting for some knight in shining armor to come around and heal all my wounds, that just doesn’t happen,” Maria insisted.
     “Maria, you’re only 16. You can afford to wait around for something better. What do you see in him anyhow? He’s your eraser room buddy who tosses you aside periodically because he can’t deal with relationships. He can’t possibly be a good enough kisser to make up for all of that!”
     Maria smiled in spite of herself, “The kissing is… great, though.”
     “Great? Just great?” Liz prodded.
     “What do you want me to say? Explosive, fervent, volatile, intense? This isn’t Dawson’s Creek,” Maria laughed.
     “But that’s not it. That’s not why you go back to him time and time again, is it?” Liz asked.
     “No,” Maria insisted, looking slightly insulted that Liz would think her so shallow. “When it’s just him and me, he can be so perfect. He can look at me and say how sorry he is for having hurt me and kiss me on the forehead and tell me how lucky he feels to be with me. He can just look at me and tell me how special I am to him, just using his eyes. I miss him so much when we aren’t together,” she whispered, her voice catching in her throat.
    “You love him,” Liz realized, taken aback.
     Maria nodded slowly, “I guess I do. It’s real with us. It’s difficult. There are times I’m so frustrated with him that I want to shake him until he gets what I’m saying and there are times he says things that hurt me so badly I want to curl up and disappear. But, I’m better with him.”
     Liz looked terribly surprised and confused.
     “We aren’t like you and Max, Liz. You have the fairytale dream. Michael and I have reality. I don’t know, maybe you’re lucky to have Prince Charming and all, but I just want Michael. As long as I have him today, I don’t need that happily ever after part. Right now is enough for me.”
    Liz paused for a moment.
    “Maria, if that’s true, then, why are you sitting here eating a carton of ice cream?”
    Maria sighed, “Because I’m a terrible liar and my teflon is wearing thin?”
    Liz laughed. “Well, with any luck it’s run off with part of Michael’s stone wall.”
    “Ya think?” Maria asked, barely audible with a mouth full of ice cream.
    “I do,” Liz smiled.