Max sits at the counter of the Crash Down stirring his milkshake with the alien shaped straw. He had been sitting there for thirty minutes and still hadn't taken one sip of the shake. Maria walks over and leans up against the counter, taking the straw from his hand and laying it on the counter next to him.

"What's up, Maxwell? Hmm? Alien business got you all distracted?"

Max grins. For some reason Maria could always bring a smile to his face. "No. I was just thinking about getting out of Roswell for a couple of days and I was trying to decide where I should go."

"Is something wrong?" She asks, standing up straight. "Are you in trouble?"

Once again, he smiles. "No. It's nothing like that at all. It's just everyone thinks I'm a stick in the mud. That I never go out and kick it up. I just want to have a little fun and put the fact that I'm not of this earth behind me."

Maria licks her big, luscious lips. "You tired of seeing Liz? I mean ever since she came back from her aunts in Florida, she's been given you the cold shoulder."

"It has nothing to do with her." He stands up and lays his money on the counter. "I just want to have fun. Take it or leave it."

Maria glances over at Michael in the kitchen, then back to Max. "Got room for one more in that piece of crap jeep of yours?"

"Are you serious?"

"Hell yes. I need a break from all the 'Alien' crap too."

Max smiles from ear to ear, his eyes sparkling. "I'll pick you up at seven."

"I'll be waiting." She says, watching him leave.

Maria tosses some clothes and personal supplies into the overnight bag. She has no idea where she and Max are off too or why she even volunteered. But she could not fight the urge to just take off. She turns around when she hears a knock on her bedroom window.

"Hey there Thelma." She says, opening the window and handing her bag to Max.

"Thelma?"

"You know Thelma and Louise."

He laughs taking her hand to help her out of the window. "Why do I have to be Thelma?"

She turns around as if to model for him. "Do I look like a Thelma?"

"No, I guess not."

"Then there you go." She says following him to the jeep. "So where are we off to?"

He tosses her bag into the back of the jeep and turns to help her in. "Wherever the road takes us."

Maria smiled. "Let's go… BFF."

Max climbs into the jeep and cranks it. "Here we go."

The night wind brought a chill upon Maria's soft skin as they drove down the road. She leans her head back and watches as the stars fly by. She and Max hadn't really said anything since they left her house. They had become good friends over the summer but a trip like this was something neither one would ever do in the spare of the moment. And that's just why they did it. They both needed a change.

"Man," Max says yawning. "What time is it?"

Maria looks down at her watch. "Twelve-thirty." She says surprised that they'd been gone that long and that no one had missed her enough to call. "Do you need me to drive?"

"Nah," he looks over at her. Her hair glistening in the moonlight. "I thought that maybe we could pull over and stay at a hotel till the morning."

She nods in agreement. She was getting tired of riding and was in a desperate need of a bathroom break.

Max pulls into a hotel parking lot. "Wait here and I'll be right back."

Maria watches him entering the hotel. Her cell phone rings, and she jumps. "Hello, Liz, hey… I know… You so would not believe me if I told you…. Look, just cover for me for the next few days and I'll explain everything when I get back." She hangs up and tucks the phone back into her purse. Max approaches the jeep, his dark hair, ruffled by the night wind, made him look different to her. Like someone she could care for in a separate way.

He hands her a key to her room. "You're in A and I'm in B. If you need me for anything just…"

She cuts him off, taking his hand to get out of the jeep. "I think I can handle being in a hotel room by myself for one night."

"I know. I was just…."

"I'll see you in the morning, girlfriend."

Max grins. "Okay, you can lay off on the girlfriend and Thelma stuff."

She laughs walking over and unlocking her door. "Sure thing, Thelma."

He laughs. "You just can't help it can you?"

She shrugs entering the room and closing the door behind her.

The next morning Max meets Maria at the jeep with a box of donuts and two cups of coffee. Maria places her bag into the jeep and climbs into the driver seat.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asks curiously.

Maria turns resting her chin on her shoulder. "I decided that since you don't know where we are going and I don't want to waste this whole trip on the road, that I would drive."

Max gets into the jeep. "And where are you driving too?"

"My grandmothers. She owns a ranch about four hours from here. She'll be glad to see us." She says grabbing a chocolate donut from the box.