There are two rules about the coffee run. One: it's always after 9pm and two: Carter gets to be in charge of the music. Max doesn't ask any questions. He doesn't ask if he's allowed to drive Carter's car under her insurance, and he specifically doesn't bring up the fact that drinking coffee after 9pm is counter-productive.

"If I didn't have to go to school, I would be nocturnal," she declares, her hand outstretched into the cold night air. "It's a different kind of life when it's dark."

Max smiles to himself. "Well yeah, it means you can go to the store and buy junk food without having to talk to anyone."

"Max, you know what I mean." She bit her lip, her eyes scanning the passing shops, the lights, the street lamps. "It's like everything that happens at night is under some kind of disclaimer, that when you wake up in the morning, everything that went before has been erased. At night, you can feel invincible, like you could go anywhere or do anything and by the morning it wouldn't matter, because in the daylight you're another person in this world."

"That's a beautiful kind of poetry…" Max pondered, pulling into the Starbucks drive through.

They ordered, and the barista passed Max a cardboard tray full of coffees for he, Carter, Taylor and Grant. Carter kept them safely on her lap.

"So seeing as we have approximately ten more hours of darkness, what's on your to do list?"

Carter laughed softly. "Nothing specific. It's just nice to get away sometimes."

"I feel that too." Max nodded.

They pulled up at the stop sign and sat there in silence for a moment of two.

"At night everything feels kind of nostalgic," said Max. "It makes you think about what has passed, and I guess sometimes it gives you a new perspective."

"The night makes me think of you."

Max turned to her, the apple of her cheeks now rosy with remembering.

"Everything we ever did together, all of our memories, they all happened at night. And sometimes I wonder if all of it ever left a trace, or if what happened between us was just a dream?" Carter asked.

Before either of them knew what to do next, they kissed softly. Max's hands tangled themselves in the silky ends of her hair, as he cupped her face gently. Her fingers curled around the neck of his sweater, then the light turned green and the car behind them honked and they sped off.

Max coughed up a slight laugh.

"What?"

"That can be erased in the morning, if you want it to be?"

"Or not?" Carter smiled.