"Feels good to me, too," Maria told him. "Did you know fat-free cookies can taste amazingly like the fat-full ones?"
Was she hitting on Trevor? That oil was long gone, and she still hadn't taken her hand away. Michael narrowed his eyes, studying her. Maria's aura was sparkling, little silver flecks scattered through the silky blue.
Michael shoved his hands through his hair. Yeah, there was a very real possibility that she was flirting. He shot another glance at her. Make that she was definitely flirting.
"I've never had a fat-free cookie," Trevor answered, smiling down at Maria.
"Don't listen to her. She doesn't know anything about cookies. She doesn't even eat cookies," Michael informed him.
"I might start," Maria said, still looking at Trevor. Although Michael thought he caught her giving him a lightning-fast glance out of the corner of her eye.
Is she trying to make me crazy?
"So, Trevor, what do you-" Maria began.
Then the lights flickered and the crowd gave an oooh of anticipation. "Get ready to bop!" someone shouted.
"Give me a friggin' break," Michael muttered. He took a step toward the guy manning the big boom box, but Maria snagged him by the elbow.
"Come on, Michael. We have to give Trevor and Adam the chance to experience the bop," she said.
Michael groaned. But he knew Maria well enough to know that she'd be relentless until she got what she wanted.
"There wasn't anything about the bunny hop in the material you studied, was there?" he asked Trevor as the bop music started to blare.
Trevor nodded, glancing around at the lines of people starting to form up and down the aisles of the museum. "Bunny hop, Charleston, swing dancing, disco, break dancing, everything," he answered.
"You swing dance?" Maria exclaimed. "I would love to learn that."
"One of the guards taught me the bunny hop," Adam volunteered loudly, clearly feeling a little left out again.
"Okay, well, both of you should know that Roswell has its own special version of the bunny hop called the alien bop," Michael explained. "It's about to start, so be afraid, be very afraid."
"There's nothing to be afraid of," Maria said.
"Except looking like a dork," Michael interrupted.
She ignored him, focusing on Adam and Trevor. "What you do is, you put your arms around the waist of the person in front of you." She moved up behind Michael to illustrate, standing close enough that her breasts brushed lightly against him.
Suddenly Michael didn't think the bop was such a horrible idea. Especially since Maria was demonstrating on him and not Trevor.
"Then you kind of bend your knee one way while you twist your foot the other way," Michael said, looking from Trevor to Adam.
"Excellent party!" Maggie McMahon called as she bopped past, followed by her boyfriend, who was dressed in a guy version of the outfit Maggie was wearing. Pathetic.
"Would I give any other kind?" Michael shouted back.
"What do we do after the leg-bending thing?" Adam asked.
"You know what? It's easier if you just watch everyone else and imitate what they do." Michael grabbed Adam by the back of the shirt.
"Now, you grab onto Trevor," he said, before Trevor could wrap his arms around Maria.
Adam obediently linked his fingers through Trevor's belt loops. "Now what?"
"Now we bop!" Maria shouted.
Isabel sat at the top of the spiral staircase, staring down at the party happening below. She liked being able to see everyone in her little group at once, well, everyone but Liz, who was practically being held prisoner at home. Somehow it made her feel safe to see them all together, and safe wasn't something she'd had enough of in her life.
Her eyes ran from person to person-Michael and Trevor scarfing pizza with sugar off one of the display cases, Adam stretched out on the floor with his head next to the boom box, Maria saying something to Max that was making him laugh by the front window, and Alex getting hit on by Stacey Scheinin near the entrance to the coffee shop.
Wait… what?
"Uh-uh. Not gonna happen, Stacey," Isabel whispered. She leaped to her feet and rushed down the stairs. Then she slowed down and casually made her way over to Stacey and Alex.
She could see why Stacey's guy antennae had led her in Alex's direction. There was something different about Alex since he got back. It was like he was giving off a double dose of those pheromones that caused sexual attraction or something. He'd been getting looks from practically every girl in the place.
And that was fine. Good for Alex. Really. But Stacey was not getting her Princess Pink nails into him. She'd said way too many nasty things behind Alex's back in the past.
"What do you think of Trevor?" she asked, deciding that was the easiest way to go.
"I think none of us really knows him yet," Alex said slowly "I think until we do, we should be… cautious."
And I think Alex is getting a case of the jealous, Isabel decided. But she wasn't going to let that ruin the night for any of them. She snuggled up closer to Alex and rested her cheek against his chest.
"Cautious. That makes sense," she mumbled.
To her relief, Alex didn't say anything else. They just danced. When the song ended, Isabel kept her arms around Alex. He tightened his grip on her, burying his face in the side of her neck. Then he slowly pulled away. "Thanks for the dance," he said, his green eyes warm as he looked at her.
Isabel had the feeling Alex was talking about more than the dance, that he was talking about their whole horrible/wonderful time together as a couple. She reached out and ran her hand down his cheek.
"Thank you."
They stared at each other for a long moment, then they each seemed to realize there was nothing else to say. Something was ending, and they had to let it happen.
Isabel gave Alex a last smile. She turned around and pushed her way through the crowd, heading back toward her perch on the staircase. Then she stopped. She didn't feel like just watching anymore. She didn't feel like just being safe.
Besides, she was Isabel Evans. And that carried responsibilities. She had to let everyone at the party see how fabulous she looked tonight. It's not like she'd bought her form-hugging pink dress so no one would notice her.
Tish Okabe waved to her from the other side of the room, and Isabel started toward her. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced back and saw Trevor. "Would you want to dance with me?" he asked.
"Of course," Isabel answered. "You should know that every girl in the place would want to dance with you. Your earth adaptation is definitely yummy."
"Yummy?" Trevor repeated.
"As in I've got to get me a taste of that," Isabel teased. She slid her arms around his neck, and after a moment's hesitation Trevor positioned his hands at her waist.
The feel of his hands reminded her of Michael. Trevor's gray eyes reminded her of Michael, too. But Trevor's hands, Trevor's eyes… they did something to her that Michael's didn't, making her body feel almost liquid.
"You two know this is a fast song, right?" Isabel heard Maria call. She twirled past them, with Adam trailing behind her.
She's right, Isabel realized with a start. It was as if when she looked at Trevor, everything had slowed down. Reluctantly she released him and got herself moving to the music that was actually playing.
"I wasn't trying to get you to stop," Maria said. Isabel spun toward her, and the two of them started dancing face-to-face, ignoring the guys.
"Not a problem," Isabel answered. She was almost glad to be free of Trevor's touch. It had been almost too intense. Maybe Alex was right to warn her about him. She had the feeling if he got too close, he could melt her into a little puddle on the floor. Had he felt anything even close to what she had?
Isabel shook her head, realizing she'd never wondered that about a guy before.