Behind The Mask

Twelve

When Gwen wakes up the next morning, Dallas and Max are still snoring. She slowly pulls herself out of Dallas's arms and runs a hand through her tangled hair. While she tiptoes to the door, Gwen licks her parched lips and tries to swallow. All of last night's crying really hurt her throat...

Gwen stops with her hand on the doorknob. Her parents are home. They're actually home. And she flipped them off last night. And Dallas and Max are here.

Crap.

After a few minutes of panicking and debating, Gwen sneaks out into the hall and pushes the door closed behind her. Hopefully, her parents are still asleep.

The wrappers on granola bars and chip bags have never been louder. She grabs some sodas and dip and stuffs them under her arm before rushing back to Dallas's room. She feels like a criminal... in her own house. Gwen's heart is racing by the time she closes the door and noisily dumps the food on the floor. Dallas startles awake and she curses under her breath. Luckily, Max keeps snoring.

"What are you doing beauty queen?" he mumbles sleepily. Her heart skips a beat at the sound of his voice.

"I got us some food. I didn't want to have to see my parents..." she whispers while she locks the door.

He gets off the bed, yawning, and helps Gwen pick up the food. Keeping a wary eye on Max's sleeping figure, they open and bag of chips and pop the lid to a can of bean dip off. Gwen keeps her eyes glued to the floor. Dallas keeps glancing at her. They eat in silence.

Max wakes up around 10. They decide to get out the games. A few hours later, Gwen's playing Go Fish with Max when she hears, "Hey baby girl! I'm ho-o-me!"

She looks up from her cards so fast that her hair whips Dallas in the face. Gwen jumps up from his lap, grabs his and Max's hand, and pulls them out of the room. Aunt Bea is downstairs at the door, glaring down Gwen's parents. When Max and the two teenagers come charging down the stairs, she pulls her eyes away and beams at them. Her smile barely falters when she sees the boys, but in the next second she's babbling an excuse to get them out of the house.

"So sorry I had to intrude, but I've been telling Gwen for weeks that I'd come down here and take her to town. And since she has friends over, I'll just take everyone out for a day!... or two... I'm not sure yet, but I'll see you guys later!" She says.

And then, she pushes Gwen, Dallas, and Max out the door. They pile into her car and it takes all of Gwen's self control to not wave out the window and stick her tongue out. Instead, she links her fingers through Dallas's and messes up Max's hair. "It'll be alright now." she says.

Aunt Bea gets in the car, adjusts her mirror, and drives away. While she drives, they talk.

"So," she starts. "Care to explain?"

Gwen bites her lip for a second, and then starts rambling. She tells her aunt almost everything, from when she first met Dallas, to now. Because Max is here, and Dallas, she leaves out some parts, and mostly explains about her parents coming back. By the time she's done, Gwen is out of breath, but relieved. Talking really does help, she thinks to herself.

Just then, Aunt Bea pulls into the parking lot of Walmart. She parks, takes the key out of the ignition, and tells them all to get out. With a twinkle in her eye, she hands each of them $30 and tells them to go buy some clothes and "necessities" while she gets food. Gwen looks down at her wrinkled clothes- the same clothes from yesterday- and runs a hand through her still slightly-tangled hair. She looks at Dallas and they grimace at each other, and then laugh. Neither one of them had realized that they were still in yesterday's clothes.