I was not expecting a confession like that at all. I thought she was going to tell me something stupid or from, like, college. I need a moment to process this. Max was going to marry someone!? Max? Max was left at the altar by this woman, and she wasn’t the one who did the running? That in itself is a shock. I mean, the queen of no commitment was going to marry someone?
I’m sure my face isn’t hiding my shock because she’s smirking at me while I think. I’m trying to be polite and think about what I say next, but I’m having trouble taking this all in.
“I know, probably explains a lot of my shit, doesn’t it?” Max chuckles.
“Well, yeah,” I mumble.
“Go ahead, ask me anything.”
I have a million questions, a million things I want to ask. But I don’t. Knowing that the answers won’t change the past, and if anything, it would keep things the same. It might even make things worse. My time in therapy has taught me that some questions are better left unanswered. I don’t want to ask Max how I compare to her ex. If her ex was the reason she didn’t want to be with me in the past. It doesn’t matter.
“I-I’m glad you told me. It helps me understand you more.” I smile and touch her hand, squeezing it lightly.
Max looks at me surprised, raising an eye but not say anything more.
“Now you tell me something no one knows,” Max counters after a bit of silence.
“You know that’s much harder for me, I’ve always been an open book.”
“What if you tell me something you wish people didn’t know?” Max takes a bite of her bagel.
“Hmm, now that’s a tough one…” I pause, taking a large gulp of my mimosa, thinking of my past mistakes. “Maybe, it wouldbe nice if a million people didn’t see my tits when I got drunk and posted them.”
Max coughs, choking on her drink. “Excuse me?”
“Ah, yes, I didn’t think you knew about that,” I admit with a grimace.
“Most definitely not.” She chuckles.
“It was in the midst of my…uh…spiral… shall we call it? I took some half-naked selfies. I was drunk, I think, or maybe high, and posted them. Which is what caused me to lose my account,” I explain.
“Well, shit, it definitely beats mine then. I was going to say the time my jeans ripped during a photoshoot, and I had to do the rest of the shoot with a huge tear,” Max says, and this time I’m the one cracking up.
“Stop, please tell me it was one where you were almost done?” I wince.
“Nope, it was at the very beginning. I played it off, but Aspen was laughing her ass off by the end. And it was summer, so it wasn’t like I had a jacket on or anything to cover it.” Max laughs.
“At least you can joke about it now.”
“For sure, I have to laugh at most of my past. Life’s too serious otherwise.” Max shrugs.
I nod, looking up at the cherry blossom trees nearby. The petals fall down delicately with the breeze. It’s just cool enough where I’m the perfect temperature, the sun shining on my face, but the rest of my body is covered by shade from the trees. Max takes her camera off her neck and holds it up to me. I start to pose, but stop myself. I know I don’t have to with Max, so I just look at her, smiling and feeling light as she takes my picture. She moves the camera away, taking some shots of the park and the trees.
“You really should’ve gone into modeling because the camera loves you,” Max says looking through the photos she took. She moves some food out of the way to come closer to me.
“Oh, shush.” I roll my eyes at her.
“I’m serious, you’ve always been too easy to capture.” Max shows me the photos, but I’m looking at her. Her smile, the way she’s talking about me, and the way she’s looking at me with such awe is captivating.
I reach to touch the side of her face, tracing my hand on her sharp jaw. Her eyes jet to match mine, dark irises looking straight into mine. I trace my thumb across her chin, and I can hear her breath change. She looks torn, like she’s not sure if she should kiss me or not. So this time I take the lead. One kiss wouldn’t kill us.
I lean forward, pressing my glossed lips on her naked ones. She groans lightly, and I giggle. We try again, this time a light kiss on the lips and my stomach ignites.
It’s somehow better than it ever was. Feeling her lips touching mine, her hands running through the curls at the nape of my neck. I relax, letting her tongue find its way back to mine. It’s like returning home after a long trip. These kisses are softer somehow, not an intensity or a need for anything more but both of us enjoying this moment. I hold my hands on the sides of her face. When we finally pull back, we’re both smiling.
“That was definitely worth the wait,” Max murmurs quietly. I run my fingers through the tips of her dark hair and rest my forehead against hers.
“Come take a walk with me?” I ask.
