This is another one of those things I started in 2011 and left to sit for a few years. This one was finished in 2012 and I never posted it, because I was waiting to finish the previous chapter first. We see how well that went. Anyway, this chapter is pretty much entirely pointless, but I think it's charming in its pointlessness?

Thank you to MidnightStarr for sticking around and continuing to review my story after that hiatus of several years!

And a very special thank you to RedWheeler, who's been my best friend, MaxMariam cohort, and one-woman support system for six years now. You mean the absolute world to me, if you didn't already know.

If I Lay Here

The scents of the sweet summer air, freshly mown grass, and Mariam's skin mingled together. It was euphoria. Max didn't even try to hide it as he inhaled deeply. He didn't exhale until he was dizzy; the rush of air ghosted over Mariam's neck.

She shivered.

"Stop that."

"I'm not doing anything," he whispered, kissing her ear.

She shivered again.

"You're breathing on me."

Max chuckled and buried his face in her hair. It smelled almost as good as her skin. He nuzzled his nose into her scalp, eyes sliding closed.

"Am not."

Mariam shifted onto her side. Max moved only so he could take the opportunity to press their foreheads together. Mariam's eyelashes looked crazy-long from up close.

"You are. And you're doing it on purpose."

He smiled.

And when she smiled back, he touched his nose to hers and tilted his chin forward slightly. His eyes darted down to her lips for a split second, before meeting hers once more.

She made a small sound halfway between amusement and satisfaction, before entangling her hand in the hair at the base of his scalp and kissing him. It was slow and soft, and Max sighed as they pulled apart.

"Okay, you caught me."

Her hand wound around his shoulder, and she pulled him close. Her lips grazed his ear as she whispered two words: "I know."

He shivered.