There's a Playground

My mother had absolutely no idea. And for that, I was incredibly glad. Max’s mom came over for some breakfast around seven and I was worried as all hell that she’d spill. But no. Apparently, whatever it was that Max had talked to her about when she’d woken us up was enough to keep her mouth shut. I about died of nerves that entire hour and a half that Shannon was over.

I spent the rest of my day lounging around. Skye called around noon and we made plans to hang out tomorrow. After that, I texted Max a few times, texted Craig and Gab, and did homework. Not an entirely eventful day, but that was fine with me. The majority of my thoughts were spent on what the hell that boyfriend of mine had in store for me tonight. Where the hell was this coming from and why hadn’t he said anything earlier?

Currently, I was standing in front of my closet with a towel wrapped around my body and one up in my hair. I had a half hour to be completely read before Max…did whatever it was that he was planning. Sighing, I chewed on my lower lip and hugged my towel tighter around my body. He’d told me to dress casually when I asked him about it earlier while texting him. So it probably wasn’t much, but you know, whatever. I wanted to look good, still. I sighed and frowned at myself. Choosing an outfit should not have been this hard…

I settled on my purple We the Kings t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Simple and casual. I probably would have spent more time deciding had I not had to pause with fifteen minutes to spare to do my hair. So it was more of a last-minute decision than anything else. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail as I waited for Max to show up.

And at five-thirty-three, the knock on the door came from him. I answered the door and grinned as I got to hug him. Despite what I’d told him before leaving this morning, I hadn’t seen him since then. He kissed my temple as my mom came into the living room. “I’ll bring her back around ten, Kat,” Max told my mother as he stood beside me with an arm wrapped around my waist.

Mother nodded, waving us off as she went to go sit on one of our couches. “Alright, you two have fun and be safe.”

“We will, thanks.”

With that, Max guided me out of my house and then down to my driveway where there was a car waiting. I faltered, looking up at him with wide eyes. “You are not driving, Max…” I warned, staring at him as he sighed and fingered the car keys in his pocket.

“Wendy, I don’t drive bad. I promise. Don’t you trust me?”

“Oh, no. I do trust you. But I just don’t trust you behind the wheel of a car.”

“If I kill us or get us in an accident, I give you full permission to kick my ass, okay? Now come on, we’re gonna be late!”

I sighed, frowning to myself and trying to ignore my better judgment as I followed Max to the sleek black car. “I swear to god, Max, if you end up killing me, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your natural life.”

“If I kill you, I’ll probably end up killing myself along with you. You can haunt me for the rest of whatever lies ahead of us if something goes wrong and you end up dieing, okay?” I smirked at that, rolling my eyes and sliding into the passenger seat as he walked around to the driver’s side.

I buckled up while did the same and started the car. My heart raced silently, praying that he wouldn’t end up crashing or doing something stupid. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other draped across the back of my seat. I took a deep breath to keep the anxiety down and stared out my window as Vegas drifted by.

Alright, so Max was a good driver. I was just paranoid because of the fact that I didn’t have any idea where he was taking me or anything like that. And Max just didn’t seem like the type of person to have any form of license. “Max…?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“…You do have your license, don’t you?” I asked, my worry coating my voice. Max turned his head to look at me slightly, a smirk on his lips before he laughed and nodded. His gaze turned back towards the road we were driving down.

“’Course I do, Wendy. Don’t worry, babe. I’m not that retarded…” I smiled at him as reassuringly as I could before turning to look back out the window.

“Okay…just making sure…”

“You worry too much,” he commented before turning down another, slightly more barren street. My curiosity was starting to take over the worry as I looked around, trying to figure out where he was taking me. Of course, I hadn’t exactly been anywhere in Vegas other than Ronnie’s, Craig’s, Skye’s, and the mall over the month or so that I’d been here.

“Close your eyes,” Max said once he’d turned down another street. I looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. “Just do it, okay? I know it’s cheesy.” I smirked at that and rolled my eyes, shutting them afterwards and feeling my nerves shoot up again. “Relax, Wendy. I’m not going to kill you or anything,” he told me with a chuckle.

“Ha ha,” I said sarcastically, keeping my eyes closed thanks to his request. I felt the car slow beneath me and resisted the urge to open my eyes. The car stopped and Max leaned over to me, kissing my cheek before climbing out of his side of the car after telling me not to look yet. Again, I resisted the urge to go against those orders as he came around to open my door for me. I unbuckled myself and thanked him as he took my arm and helped me out of the car.

“Max, where…”

“Shh. You’ll see.”

“Can I open my eyes yet?”

“Nope. Not yet.”

“Ugh…fine… If you make me walk into something or fall on my face, I’m kicking your ass…”

“Ugh. You are way too paranoid for your own good, Wendy. Don’t worry so much, okay?” I shut up after that, sighing and letting him lead me wherever the hell he was taking me. I sighed, chewing on the inside of my lip as I was guided along.

“Okay. We’re here. You can open your eyes now,” he instructed me. I could hear a hint of nervousness in his voice. I opened my eyes and I was…yeah. I was pretty shocked. I never would have thought Max capable of doing what was set out before me.

We were pretty much in the middle of the fucking desert. There were houses around, yeah, but they were quite a bit away. A blanket had been lain out on the desert sand, various food and drink set up in that classic ‘cheesy Hollywood’ moment. I looked over at him, smirking and feeling a blush creep up my cheeks.

“Don’t kill me?” he asked, his face in a hopeful smile. I grinned and nodded, reaching over to hug him tightly.

“It’s cute, Max. Totally wouldn’t have expected this from you. Ever.” He laughed at that and let me go, keeping his arms wrapped loosely around my waist.

“Yeah, well. I’m capable of doing romantic things every now and then.”

“Was this Bryan’s idea?” I asked and he glared at me playfully.

“…Omar’s…”

“It’s okay. It’s still way cute. Thank you.” He kissed me softly before letting me go to go sit down on the blanket. I smirked and followed suit, sitting next to him as he handed me a Subway sandwich. I held my chuckles back at how cheesy he was being as I took it, thanking him again and unwrapping it. “Subway? Really? You’re such a dork, Max…” I told him in between my unwrapping my dinner.

“Yes, really. Subway is amazing. And thank you,” he told me with a wink and I rolled my eyes, shaking my head.

“So is this all we’re doing tonight? ‘Cause I don’t think dinner is gonna take until ten.” He smirked and shook his head.

“Yes it is. And no, it won’t. But that’s okay. I figured it’d give us time to spend together? I can take you home earlier, if you want to…” I shook my head, smiling as I bit into the sandwich I had been given. He was so cute…

“It’s okay, yeah?” he asked, holding a Subway sandwich of his own as he watched me nervously. I smiled and nodded, taking another bite and finishing that off before responding.

“It’s great, Max. Thank you.”

“Yay!” Max exclaimed, reaching over to hug me tightly. I laughed and kissed the corner of his mouth softly before he let me go.

We continued eating after that, chatting about random things and more memories. It surprised me how much we remembered between the two of us. Between what we did when we were eight and before I left all the way back to when we were two and chasing each other around the apartments.

It was nice, having this time with Max out here in the middle of almost nowhere. It was relaxing, and the view was absolutely gorgeous. And it was also nice that we didn’t have to worry about my mom finding out that I snuck out or he snuck in or anything else. Max was a total and complete sweetheart and I couldn’t help but feel on top of the world around him. Currently, I had my head on his shoulder while I sat in front of him, his arms wrapped loosely around my waist with my arms over them. Our legs were out in front of us and we had actually hit a lull of things to talk about. Which wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would have been.

“It’s really pretty out here…” I mused quietly, smiling as we watched the sun set out over the desert. Max squeezed me and nodded.

“I like coming out here to get away from everything. It’s peaceful,” he told me before he kissed my cheek. “Don’t tell anyone that, though. I’ll get shit for the rest of my life.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that as he said that. Alright, so it made sense why he would be embarrassed about something like this. He was supposed to be the big bad ass of school. Not someone who went and sat out in the middle of the desert to be alone in a peaceful way. And then something that he’d told me earlier popped back up in my mind.

“But I thought Omar knew?” I asked, twisting in his grip.

“Well…that’s Omar. He gave me the idea to do this, he doesn’t know about me coming out here,” Max informed me, pecking at my forehead. I smirked, rolling my eyes as I returned to sitting like I previously had been. We stayed like that for a bit longer, just watching the sun set over the desert and ignoring the sounds of the city and the world behind us.

And, of course, a few minutes later, we were lip-locked. Max’s grip on my waist had tightened and I had maneuvered around so that neither of us had to crane our necks to keep our lips attached. The metal of his piercings against my lips was, I’ll admit, a really nice feeling. Yeah, it was kind of a turn on. His tongue licked at the space between my lips, begging for entrance that I readily allowed.

Thinking about it, it probably should have been more than a little awkward kissing the kid that I’d grown up with. But I had learned to just keep those thoughts out of my head because of the simple fact that Max made me happy. I was happy, really and truly happy, for the first time in a while. Of course, I never realized that I wasn’t happy with life until now, but whatever. It was around right now. So. I wasn’t about to start complaining about any awkwardness that there could have been. Period.

His fingers found their way under my shirt again, causing my heart rate to kick up the tempo a few more beats. His hands moved their way up my sides, sending shivers down my spine as he held me against his chest. My hands were on his chest and around his neck, until, that is, one his hands began playing with the clasp of my bra.

I pulled away, breathless, and moved my arms to grab his hands and slide them back down to my waist. He blushed and complied, sighing and leaning forward to lay his head on my shoulder. “Sorry, Wendy…”

“It’s okay, Max…” I murmured as I wrapped my arms around him and begged my heart rate to slow down a bit. He sighed and shook his head, moving to kiss my cheek.

“No, it’s not. Ugh. Damn it…” I wondered why he was getting so flustered over this whole thing. It wasn’t a big deal, was it? Normal couples made out all the time… Just because I wasn’t entirely comfortable with his hands fighting my bra, didn’t meant that he had to be sorry or anything like that. Unless…he was just thinking like a teenaged guy and going off of instinct instead of him actually wanting me…

I worried too much.

And that thought sparked worry in me quite a bit. Then again, we had only been dating for the last few weeks. So maybe it made sense that he wouldn’t want me? Ugh. I worry too much. I think too much. I should really just stop thinking.

I smiled as reassuringly as I could at him as he pulled away from me, leaving an arm wrapped loosely around my waist as he moved to sit next to me. I didn’t know what to say, so I simply stared up at the night sky. His hand found mine and our fingers intertwined. I sighed, hoping that he wasn’t picking up on any worry vibes from me.

“Wendy, I don’t want to fuck anything up with you. You’re way important to me and I don’t want to pressure you into anything. It’s okay.” Yeah, I should have known not to go anywhere close to the thoughts of him not noticing how worried I was. It was probably oozing out of me in a thick layer at this point. I turned to look at him and he smiled at me. His words seemed genuine enough and that was enough to kill my worry about the possibility of him not wanting me. At least for the most part, that is.

Max leaned in and pecked my lips again before he pulled away and pulled me into his side. I smiled softly, resting my head on his chest and trying not to let my thoughts get the best of me. “We can go back, if you want,” he said, and I shook my head at that.

“Nope. I like it here in your arms.”