We're going to need more than five minutes

What the hell is going on in the backyard??

If only the taxi driver would at least switch on the radio to quiet the deafening silence between them as they sat in the backseat of the cab on their way home from the airport, each of them staring out their window, not saying a word. Certainly, they'd have imagined their first day as a real couple to be different than this.

But here they were, right in the middle of their first real fight. Their romantic vacation in paradise had ended rather abruptly, before they were even properly prepared for it to end.

He had been concerned about how expensive the trip had been, and when she offered to pay, he had gotten even more upset, pouting like a little child. It had continued at the airport where Lana was unwilling to forfeit her business class upgrade. Someone had made a reckless comment to him again which might have been motivated by the color of his skin, or simply by the fact that he had insisted on wearing shorts and flip flops on the plane to keep the vacay vibes going for just a little bit longer.

When she had asked him to give that person the benefit of the doubt and let it go, that not everyone was out to get him, he had said that she had no idea what it was like having to deal with such micro-aggressions on the daily.

And that's when she had snapped.

He had no idea about her upbringing, she was Latina, growing up rather poor in an edgy neighborhood, losing her father when she was still a teenager. He on the other hand, his father was a doctor and he most certainly had grown up in a nice, quaint and protected community and gone to good schools. He had no idea about the kind of experiences she had had, and he had no right to judge.

And while he had agreed with her on that, he also emphasized once more that even though he's from a good family, it's still different. And she couldn't know because she was – what did he call her? – ‚the whitest Latina he had ever seen.'

Since then they had barely spoken a word to each other, and it was only now that Lana realized that he seemed to be at least as stubborn as herself. Great...

It was like everything that made their relationship complicated had hit them in the face all at once today, barely awakening from the beautiful dream that had been their vacation, they were already confronted with the brutal reality that would – most likely – from now on be their day to day. Well, it's exactly what they wanted, wasn't it... Together in good times and the bad. Sharing joy and laughter, but also fights and pain. In the end, that's what real relationships were about, they'd get through this and make it out, stronger, on the other side. And she didn't doubt for a second that they would, too. She had always known that sooner or later they too would sail into their first storm. But still, she wasn't expecting it to be quite so soon, and it still hurt nonetheless...

When they arrived at her place, they entered the house together and made their way upstairs. He still had a few things here that he wanted to get, afterwards though, he would head straight home, he was expected at a friend's birthday party later tonight. Right now, he didn't feel like staying for much longer anyway, they had been up in each other's faces for 24 hours over the last five days and they could both use some space right about a now, that much was clear.

But he also absolutely did not want to leave angry, and while they were still fighting. And so, after they had each been unpacking their suitcases in her bedroom upstairs rather quietly, he took her hand.
„Lana... say something, please. Let's talk about this."

She sighed and looked away quickly, though still giving his hand a gentle squeeze. „It's alright, there's nothing to talk about. Let's just forget about this, please."

„I'm not sure I can."

She looked up to him, and she could have sworn to even see tears glistening in his eyes. At first, she was surprised. But then she remembered that he might very likely have 15 years less of experience than her in fighting with his significant other.