"your house or mine?" mike asked as he folded the blanket and set it in the back of the truck.
max hopped into the passenger seat and sighed. "yours. jane's coming over tomorrow morning."
the boy looked over at his girlfriend. he thought about how beautiful she was. he wondered why he had to hide her.
"why?" he asked, breaking the silence.
the redhead looked at him in confusion. "why what?"
he looked down at their interlocked hands. his other hand was on the steering wheel, but all he wanted to do was hold her close.
"why can't i stay over? what does it matter that jane's coming?" he continued.
max's eyebrows furrowed. she didn't understand what he was getting at.
"why are we hiding this? max, you're beautiful. and i love you. why can't everyone know that?"
his eyes met his girlfriend's and she looked sad. he looked back down.
"you know why. it's just too complicated. too hard to explain to everyone," she replied.
mike's eyes saddened. max squeezed his hand tight and he looked up at her again.
"i wish we didn't have to explain ourselves."