Just for future reference, I don't care if it doesn't snow in Tulsa. All I know is that it was freakin cold there recently, so I'm doing another chapter with references to snow. K? hehe.
"Zac, you're standing on my head again." Nique grumbled and slapped Zac's ankle.
"Then stop making snow angels under my feet." He smiled down at her and kicked some snow into her face. There was about two inches of snow on the ground, and since that didn't happen very often, everybody was outside taking it all in.
Nique sighed and looked around her. "I never know how to stand up without wrecking it. So I'll just lay here for a while."
Carter laughed and rolled a small ball of snow past Nique's head. "Ok who's helping me here?"
Taylor and Jade were competing in a snow battle with Zac and Melissa. "You don't need help making a snowman when he's no bigger than a foot tall." Taylor rolled his eyes.
"Shut up, Tay."
Melissa laughed. "Taylor, you get told to shut up at least seven times a day. You should really take a hint." She threw a snowball at him and dodged behind the fence.
"Yeah that will protect you, Meli. Hide behind the inpenatrable chain link fence." Taylor threw an ice chunk at her.
"No fair! Ice is against the rules!" Melissa covered her head with her arms as the chunk of ice sailed past her head. "And who picked these teams anyway? I don't like being with Zac. He gets distracted by the invisible snow faeries and then I get bombed."
Zac looked down at his watch. "Weren't Justine and Tanis supposed to be coming over?"
Carter shrugged and lifted the tiny ball in place on top of the other two. "There. All done."
At that moment, Taylor threw a snowball at Zac, while dodging to miss one thrown by Melissa. He flew through the air and landed directly on top of Carter's snowman, smashing it into the ground.
"TAYLOR! THAT WAS MY SNOWMAN!" Carter yelled, looking at the ground and pouting.
"Not anymore." He picked up another chunk of ice and threw it. It hit Melissa square in the cheek. "Oops." He muttered when he saw her cover her face with her hands and bend over. "Dude, I'm sorry. I wasn't aiming at your face. I was aiming at Zac's face."
Melissa stood up straight and rubbed her cheek. Then she smiled at Taylor and ran towards him. She grabbed his shoulders and shoved him into the ground. "YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY WITH GIRLS!" She yelled as she grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it into his face.
"Ah but you have it all wrong. It was all a part of my master plan to get you on top of me." Taylor grinned.
"Ok ok." Carter grabbed Melissa and pulled her off of Taylor. "Enough with the flirts'o'plenty. You're really bad at it Tay."
Jade plopped down on the ground next to Nique and poked her. "Niquie, you're not being very much fun."
"So what?"
"So get up and help me and Taylor clobber the bad guys. Come on. We could get teams of three and three."
"I don't wanna see you and Taylor clobber anybody. Now get the fuck off of me and leave me alone." Nique shoved Jade hard and jumped up. She wiped the snow off of the back of her legs and left the yard to go home.
Jade looked around. "That was... yeah."
"What's her problem?" Carter asked, watching as Nique slammed the front door to her house shut.
"I have no idea."
Carter shrugged. "Tay, go find out what's up with Nique."
"Uhm. Why?" He asked, looking up from his pile of pre-made snowballs.
"Because your cheeks get redder than hell in the cold and you look like a dork. Just go over and find out what's wrong with her. She's been acting weird for..."
Jade nodded. "Forever."
Taylor sighed. "Fine." He stomped out of the yard, smashing snow with his feet, and went across the street to talk to Nique. After pounding on her door, he realized she wasn't going to answer it. Instead of giving up, he pushed the front door open.
Nique was sitting on the couch, leaning against a pillow. She was staring into space and looked as if she was deep in thought.
"Niquie..." He asked, sitting next to her.
"Don't call me that."
"I used to call you that all the time."
"Yeah. When we were together."
"So?"
She sighed and continued to stare ahead. "Do you even remember that?"
"Remember what?"
She turned to him. "You are the most dense human being I've ever met. Do you realize that? Do you have any idea how much I was totally head over heels in love with you?"
Taylor bit his bottom lip.
"Nope. You don't. You didn't then either. I'd sneak over to your house when my brothers were asleep cause they hate your family. I don't know why, but they do. But they thought I was sneaking over for Zac."
Taylor sighed. "Nique, what do you want me to say?"
"I had to keep it a secret because if my brothers found out, they'd beat the living shit out of you. You had to keep it a secret because... Because why, Taylor? Were you ashamed of me or something?"
Taylor shook his head and turned so he was facing her. "No. No way. I was never ashamed of you. But I knew you couldn't let anybody know about us. So I figured if I told anybody, it'd get around to your family."
Nique sighed again. "Yeah. Sure."
"I'm serious!"
"Whatever. So why did we end it?"
"I. Uhm. I don't remember."
"Me neither. But I can guarentee it was because of Carter."
"Don't blame Carter. Dammit, why does everybody blame her for everything?"
"What bothers me is that I was totally in love with you. I was completely happy with being with you in secret, and just sitting there at night, talking to you while you held me and played with my hair. But you didn't love me back. Did you?"
Taylor paused.
"Did you?"
"No."
"But you're so able to flirt with every other girl you come in contact with."
"Nique, the reason I wasn't as in love with you as you were with me, had nothing to do with Carter... OR you. I've been in love ONCE in my lifetime. And that was with..."
"Dude don't say her name in my presence."
"Carter. And you know that. But you know why?"
"Because she's a whore?"
Taylor ignored her last comment. "Because it was an honest, open relationship. I didn't have to hide my feelings for her."
"Yeah right, Taylor. What about Zac? You always had to divide your time with her because of him."
"Ok now you're blaming my brother. What the hell is your problem? Can't you just accept the fact that I'm not going to be able to be with you when you can't stand up to your brothers and tell them to fuck off?"
Nique frowned.
"That's right. Somebody is telling you off. Accept it."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You sit around all day and boss Jade around. You already have me wrapped around your little finger again. Your brothers protect you as if you're gonna break in half if another guy lays his eyes on you. You're a spoiled, snotty, little princess. And while I COULD love you for what you are beneath that, for how caring and honest you are, I'm never going to love the snob. I don't go for that and I never will. Why do you think I never went for Gabi?"
Nique stared.
"Because I could have. She offered it plenty of times. But I want somebody who is strong. Somebody who isn't going to break. And somebody who doesn't treat everybody like shit just because she can't get with a guy who she doesn't even want anyway."
She blinked hard. "Taylor, I do want you."
"No you don't. If you did you would stand up for yourself. You're not gonna be able to have secret boyfriends for your whole life. Your brothers treat you like you're eleven years old. And most of the time you act like it."
"So you were sent here to make me feel better."
"No. I was sent here to find out what's wrong with you. You're going to have to make yourself feel better, Niquie." He gave her a quick hug and then left, leaving her on her couch alone.
Taylor mumbled to himself as walked through the gate and entered his backyard again.
"So? Is she ok?" Jade asked, looking concerned.
"She's fine." Taylor looked at Zac who was laying face down on the ground, moving his arms and legs back and forth. "Carter, what is your boyfriend doing?"
"He's uhm..." Carter smiled. "Making snow demons." She laughed. "Don't ask."
"Wasn't gonna."