Smile Though your....(Roswell)(CC) (Teen) Complete

[majiklmoon]

Smile Though Your Heart is Aching
Roswell CC – L/M
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: I don't own anything - except for Spike the Minivan. Roswell and it's characters belong to Melinda Metz and Jason Katims. She created them, he killed them. I'm just trying to bring them back to life.

This is for SarahWhitman who requested some Gazer or Dreamer Love with SMILE as the prompt

Liz listened as the old Nat King Cole standard played on the juke box her father had recently installed in their restaurant The Crashdown Café. She wiped down the counter and thought about Max Evans. She loved him with all her heart, but he was destined to be with Tess, and so she wore a smile on her face even though inside, she wanted to die.

The bell on the door jangled and she looked up and saw one of her two best friends Alex Whitman walk into the Crashdown with Max’s sister Isabel. The two slid into a booth and stared goofily into each others eyes, smiling all the while.

“Smiles are funny things,” Liz mused to herself as she watched Agnes go over to take their order. “They can show the world exactly how you feel, or they can be used to hide your true feelings from the world.”

The bell over the door jangled again, and Liz looked up to see Kyle, Maria, Michael and Tess come into the café and make a beeline for Alex and Isabel. She sighed. Tess being here meant Max wouldn’t be far behind and she didn’t think she could deal with him tonight. With a sigh, she threw the rag down on the counter and went out back to take out the trash.

The bag was heavy and she couldn’t lift it and so, against her better judgment, she dragged it over the stoop and out into the back alley. The bag stopped moving and she gave a quick tug and cried out in dismay when the bag ripped and the contents spewed over the ground.

“Oh damn,” she cried helplessly. It was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back, and all the pain and heartache she’d been hiding behind her smiles exploded in a torrent of tears.

“Liz? Liz, are you okay?”

“Oh God, not you, not now,” Liz whispered.

“Why not me?” Max asked.

“Because, it’s always you,” Liz cried. “I can’t help it, I know I shouldn’t love you, but I do, and it’s killing me to pretend I don’t.”

“But Liz, I love you, too,” Max whispered. “You’re my everything.”

“But you belong with Tess,” Liz sobbed. “Tess said so, the stupid book said so, everybody says so.”

“The book said Zan and Ava belonged together. But Tess and I, we’re not them. We’re different. We don’t belong together. Not that way. It’s you, Liz. It always will be.”

He kissed her gently and stepped back and watched as Liz smiled. Not a smile used to mask her feelings, but a smile that let all the love in her heart shine through.

[nibbles2]

aw, that was so sweet.

[SarahWhitman]

That was beautiful! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!