Thanks, Max
Things were much more tense on the way back from the hospital. Max and Taylor simply sat side by side on the bus, their fingers laced together and tried to focus on the music in their shared earbuds instead of trying to talk. Nonverbal communication was where they excelled, so they didn’t try and branch out. Max just drew little circles on Taylor’s palm with her thumb and they kept things blotted out for awhile.
They both knew perfectly well that Taylor’s mom would be fine, and it was easy enough for Max to distance herself from the situation knowing that. But, for Taylor, it was just seeing her mom in that place that filled her with anxiety that wouldn’t dissipate until she was finally out. Her mother hated hospitals. Taylor hated them, too.
It was good Max had come, though. She was always good at cracking jokes when things were tense, and Taylor knew her mom appreciated that. She wondered if her mom would like Max nearly so much if she knew about their relationship . . . it wasn’t exactly a conversation that there had been much reason to have. What would the conversation even be like? Don’t bring the quirky, funny girl around if you put your mouth on her? If you do, I’ll kick you out, and you’ll have to go live with her at the school - oh wait.
When they finally got off the bus, though, Max pulled out her earbud to ask, “Woods?”
Taylor nodded in confirmation, and said, “Yeah, woods sounds nice.”
The two made their way across the campus, beyond the dorms, and trekked out beyond the tobanga, continuing out into the pathless mess of wilderness for a few hundred feet before coming across a familiar tree, split almost into four separate trees, its insides charred black as if it had been split by lightning. Max turned off her iPod and stuffed away the ear buds as the two climbed upon it, settling themselves upon the separate little trunks, their shoes compressed down into the tiny base of the tree, meshed into each other’s. Max lay down as well as she could in the crook of the tree, uncomfortable as it was.
A small smile appeared on Taylor’s face, and she reached into her pocket to produce her phone, clicking on the photo app. She took a few snapshots before heading over to Tumblr and dropping her favorite one into Max’s very own tag: “#oh deer i’m queer.”
Max pretended not to notice, her hands crossed over her chest and her eyes closed.
But that afforded Taylor with an excellent opportunity. When she slid her phone back into her hands, she pushed off the trunk a little to lean over Max, steadying herself with one hand on the branch behind Max’s head. Max must have been able to feel her movements from their feet, but nothing more than a bemused smile crossed her face as Taylor’s head dropped down, and their lips met gently in the heart of the tree. Their kisses were light and short, but Taylor liked it when Max had to reach up to clear the hair out of her face for them to kiss at this angle, as her fingers brushed along her temple and behind her ear. Being with Max was easy, and that was like nothing else. Kissing was kissing. Hand holding was hand holding. Laying quietly was just that. There was never anything more than what was.
“Thanks, Max. For coming with me today. You’re my rock.”
Max planted a little kiss on her forehead. “Well you’re my . . . geodude. Like a rock but cooler.”
Taylor rolled her eyes and groaned, muttering, “Ooooh fine, I get it, you want to play Pokemon.”
Max’s eyes lit up with delight. “Can we?”
Taylor sat back against her charred tree seat. “Well, fine, but we’ll have to go back to the do-”
Max unzipped her bag and produced two Nintendo DS. Taylor’s eyes fluttered in temporary disbelief. “We don’t want Victoria to know we’re training so much, after all.”
There was the rustling of underbrush some distance away. “ARE YOU TWO TRAINING POKEMON WITHOUT ME?”
Taylor flipped open her DS and started it up, and Max followed suit. By the time Victoria arrived at the tree, they both were in the main menus, and their tall girlfriend glared down at the both of them, hands on her hips. “We’re supposed to be doing the Nuzlocke challenge together!”
Max just shrugged, then reached into her bag to produce a third DS, this one with significantly more modifications and stickers on it.
“How . . .?” Victoria asked. “When did you-”
“Gotta catch ‘em all, Tori.”
“But I hide i-”
“Gotta catch ‘em all.”
Victoria groaned, taking her DS, and tried to wedge her body in with the other two, taking a moment to give Taylor a kiss on the cheek. “How did everything go with your mom?” she asked, turning the power on.
Taylor shrugged, eyes flicking up to Victoria and then to Max: “It was all right, though I think Mom might want Max for a daughter instead of me. For some reason it’s so exciting to hear someone’s a photographer at an art academy when you’re not paying for the cameras or the schooling.”
Victoria nodded, dropping into the world of Pokemon X. “I hear you. My mom seems to love Max too - and my mom doesn’t like anyone.”
A pout that was . . . somehow smug crossed Max’s face. “I guess I’m just good with moms. I keep them from getting freaked out by either of you two.”
Her girlfriends glared at her - the recluse, and the charm machine. Now she grinned good naturedly. “Love you,” she promised, defensively.
Oh, they were so double battling later.