Roswell, Friday evening

[izzyalienqueen]

Judging by the sounds coming from the den, the MarioKart race was getting pretty intense. Isabel wondered if the guys would even notice if she didn't return with snacks and instead stayed hidden in the relative quiet of the kitchen for a while.

"Hiding?" Diane Evans asked when she came into the room.

"Possibly," Isabel admitted. "They're a little intense."

"Just a bit," her mother agreed. "But it's good to see them relaxed and having fun. Even if they do take beating a gorilla in a car race a little too seriously."

Laughing, Isabel nodded and starting dig in the freezer for ice cream. Maybe they'd settle down with food. "Thanks for letting us stay this weekend."

"Isabel, you're my daughter. You and your friends are always welcome. You know that."

"I know. Thanks mom."

With that a particularly loud and possibly anatomically impossible curse was heard from the den. Diane rolled her eyes and picked up the bottle of wine she'd gotten off the counter. "I heard nothing and I'm going to go join the adults on the deck. Don't let them break anything." With a final shake of her head, Diane fled.

Comments

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker stormed in to look for something to drink, and announced, "Max cheats. Make him stop."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"He doesn't cheat," Isabel laughed. "He's just had more practice. Give it time, you'll get better."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Oh please, he is so using alien powers on that game. I'm sure of it." Parker grabbed a Diet Pepsi and cracked it open. "No one's Mario Kart should go that fast. Also, Michael's picked up quite the vocabulary, hasn't he?"

Like she hadn't been swearing back at him in Italian.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Quite. I'm not sure if I should be impressed or have my mom or Amy get the soap," she grinned as she began scooping out ice cream into two dishes. She and Parker would eat first. The boys could wait. "But you looked like you were having fun. Glad you came?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I am. Last semester of Oxford starts next week." She took a swig of her drink and leaned back against the counter. "So. Last break before things really change." Parker toasted Isabel with her drink. "Thanks for the invitation." She grinned a little. "Any objections if I hit on Kyle fairly heavily?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Any time. I figured we could both use a little pampering and some fun," Isabel replied. "It might not be a swanky spa. But it's home and I was missing it."

She slid Parker's ice cream across the table towards her and took a seat. "Have at it. He'll flail and quote Buddha a lot. But you'll broaden his horizons. Just don't be mean. He's a goof, but he's a really good guy."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Buddha?" Parker asked, intrigued. "Interesting. New. I can work with that." She grinned. "Oh, don't worry. I know he doesn't deserve the full-on torment mode. I'd just like to see how far things can go. It hasn't exactly been a full dance card, lately."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"I doubt far, unless you're willing to spring for a hotel room," she replied. "He's still living with Jim and Amy to save up some money. Or you could just stay there and have coffee with them in the morning."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker looked torn between No way in hell and Hmmm. "You realize my first walk of shame was out of a bordello, right? I can handle parents of a one-night stand." She grinned wickedly. "Do they have alien-themed motels around here?"

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Fortunately no," Isabel shuddered. "That's a level of kitsch we haven't hit yet."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"You are no fun," Parker told her, then grinned. "Well. We'll see what develops. I meet the most interesting men through you, I swear."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"You know, that could totally be taken in the wrong way," she pointed out, eye brow raised.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Oh please, it's not like I'm giving you a laundry list and telling you to go out there and find me some man muffins." Parker smirked. "You just happen to be friends with many of the kinds of men I find attractive. How is that wrong?" Except for how she made it sound like it was.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"We have similar tastes?" Isabel said, snickering at the thought of 'man muffins'. "I seem to remember you hitting on my boyfriend at one point or was that only an informational fishing expedition?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"That was informational. And if he'd taken me up on it I would've told you he wasn't good enough for you, and found you someone better," Parker said promptly. "Fortunately he passed that little test."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Yes, he did, didn't he?" She took a moment to smile at the memory. "I do appreciate you looking out for me. Did I ever tell you that?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker gave her a surprised look over her drink, then grinned again, a little less sharply than usual. "It sounds familiar from... some time or other." She shrugged one shoulder. "And the feeling's mutual. Especially after the epic mess I was last summer."

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"You had last summer, I had one horrible spring three years ago," Isabel pointed out. "Do you think things will stop being so traumatic by the time we're sixty?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"No. Because then it would be someone else's life. Mine's going to remain fairly screwed until I'm dead," Parker said frankly. "The outcome of a personality like mine combined with a family like mine. Yours is going to stay screwed because you're an alien, you're dating a magic guy, and you're the Christmas Nazi."

Why yes, Michael and Max had been shooting their mouths off.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"This is true," she admitted. "Between you riding herd on the brainiacs and me potentially having a daughter with both mine and Wyatt's powers...We're soooo doomed."

The Christmas Nazi comment didn't really bother her. Isabel had learned to embrace her mad organizational skills.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Yup," Parker said, relatively placidly, and saluted Isabel with her pop can. "Although I could miss out springs or summers like that again, but hey. We got through them. And all before we could legally drink."