"You didn't have to say anything to that guy, you know."
"What?" he asked her as he drove home from their date. He held the steering wheel with one hand, while she kept his other hand in her lap, intertwined with hers.
"The guy you overheard said my nose was too big. You didn't have to say anything to her. I've heard that almost my entire life. I'm used to it."
He squeezed her hand.
"That doesn't mean its okay, Rachel."
"I know," she assured him. "I know. It's just…it doesn't bother me. Don't feel like you have to defend me over every little thing because you're my boyfriend."
"Are you upset that I did it?"
She shook her head.
"Then I'm glad I did," he told her. "And I didn't do it because I felt like I had to. I did it because I wanted you. Because people shouldn't say bad things about you, because there's nothing bad to say. You're an actress, and you're nose is perfect just like your singing. And that's all I told that man."
He looked over at her, and she smiled, the headlights of passing cars illuminating her tan skin in the dark truck.
"I love you," she murmured, and he lifted up their intertwined hands to kiss the back of hers.
"I love you, too."