James held onto Lorraine in the back seat of his beat-up car. 

Her head against his shoulders, her breath tickled his neck as she rested in his arms. Slowly, he pushed away her hair from her forehead and tucked it behind her ears. She looked up to meet his eyes and smiled softly. 

"I could lie here forever," she whispered as she drew a shape across his bare chest. James followed the movement of her fingers as she sketched a star on his skin over and over again. 

Suddenly, he felt claustrophobic and nauseous. The walls of his car seemed to be crushing down on him as his guilt was rising to the surface. He concentrated real hard to keep his thoughts of Betty at bay, but they were flooding back. 

Picking up on his racing heart, Lorraine asked, "Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah," he lied. He'd been doing that a lot lately. She didn't know that things between him and Betty were better than ever, and now James didn't really know why he needed Lorraine. He should've just told Betty to come back and shook Lorraine back.

But now that he was in this mess...

"Let's catch a movie together sometime," Lorraine offered. 

James was pretty sure that couples did that, and he didn't know what he and Lorraine were. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"You don't think any of my ideas are good. All we do is sneak around and meet up," Lorraine said as she shifted in his arms. Soon she was positioned on top of him, her hair falling over his face. "I wanna do some of the real stuff in broad daylight. I can't take this nighttime romance anymore."

James was on the verge of panic, but he reigned it in. "Real stuff can be done at night too," he said as he brushed aside her gorgeous locks of hair. "Let's hit the road."

*****

James took them to an empty stretch of highway. It was blockaded for repair for about two miles. The streetlights were lit regardless, perfect for midnight dates. James pulled up just before the blockade. Making sure that there were no cops around, the two of them snuck past.

"We're gonna be LEGENDS!" Lorraine screamed and the wind carried her words. "Whoo!"

James got it. The empty street and freshly laid tarmac gave him an other-worldly feeling too. He felt like Lorraine and he were the only two people in the world. He threw out his arms and embraced the night.

Lorraine on the other hand had started to jog along the stretch, her grey Nike's barely sticking to the surface and her hoodie in a fluttering trail behind her. In her track pants, Lorraine still looked alluring. 

James tried to catch up with her, but she kept increasing her speed, teasing him. He wasn't one to give up. James ran right up to Lorraine and grabbed her by the waist. Lifting her in the air, he twirled her around. She kicked out her legs and laughed. 

"Put me down!" she shrieked.

"As you wish."

And then they were on the road, Lorraine wedged between the tarmac and James' chest. He kissed her before she could say anything. James was on top of the world.

"You keep distracting me James," Lorraine said as she broke away.

"What?" James hadn't heard what she'd said. His brain felt like mush and he was about to kiss her again.

"What are we running from?" she asked, and there was such sincerity in her question that it brought James back to reality.

"Something happens when everybody finds out," James said. "Love's a fragile little flame, it could burn out."

Lorraine sighed like she understood, but she didn't like it. 

James took her right hand and kissed it softly. "Hey," he whispered onto her knuckles. "This is good. We're good, right?"

Lorraine nodded. 

James took a shaky breath before kissing her again.