Melissa kicked aside a large yellow piece of plastic and looked down at it. "Ok, what's that?"
"I think it's siding from the house." Carter sighed. "This sucks." They had been kicking a path through their bedroom, trying to save everything that wasn't broken, waterlogged, or unrecognizable. Zac and Taylor were helping. Isaac was downstairs talking to Carter's dad, trying to find out how long it would take to fix the damage. "Did you find it yet?" Carter turned to Melissa who just shook her head and frowned.
"Find what?" Zac asked, looking around the room. They had already taken out Carter's bed and all the clothes from their closet. Everything that was in their dresser was ruined.
"My guitar." Carter kicked aside another piece of the wall. "I think I had it in here last but I'm not sure." She turned to Taylor. "Do you remember?"
Taylor shrugged. He did remember. Carter had her guitar on her lap when he came in to talk to her. He also remembered hearing it fall to the floor when the tree hit the house. He was almost afraid to find it.
"Maybe it's downstairs. I'll go look." Carter shrugged her shoulders and left the room for a few minutes.
Taylor took a deep breath. He was almost sure of where the guitar was. He walked to the corner of the room where the tree had landed, almost against the door. Now, there was a just a huge pile of junk, including the door which had been taken off the hinges. He fished through it for a minute before lifting up the door and finding what he was looking for. "Guys..." He held up a piece of wood.
"Oh no..." Melissa gasped. Taylor was holding up the neck of Carter's guitar. The rest of it lay in several pieces on the floor.
"I don't want to tell her..." Taylor looked at Zac.
"What makes you think I do?" Zac asked, staring down at the guitar. It was Carter's most valued possession. She carried it around with her sometimes, not knowing that she was carrying it. It was an extension of her. She loved it.
"I don't know much about isntruments but I take it we can't just fix it." Melissa sighed.
At that moment, Carter walked into the room empty handed. "It wasn't downstairs, Zac, do you think I left it at your house?" She stopped suddenly when she saw what Taylor was holding. "Oh." She blinked a few times before taking the neck of the guitar from Taylor. She stared at it for a moment before she spoke. "Well, I guess we could have lost a lot more." She shrugged and managed a smile. Then, she gathered the pieces of her guitar and threw them into a large garbage bag that was sitting in the middle of the room.
Nobody said anything for a while after that. They finished gathering what they could save. Then, they left Carter and Melissa's room and went back to the Hanson house. They were all sitting in the living room, staring at nothing for a while.
"I'd suggest truth or dare but I don't think we're all really in the mood," Isaac, who had finally joined them, tried to make everybody laugh.
Carter laughed lightly. "Yeah, I'm not really in a 'gettin naked and singing 'Home, Home on the Range'' kind of mood. Sorry."
Zac finally decided that they should just watch a movie to keep their minds off of everything. Carter was sitting next to Taylor on the couch and during the previews she leaned over and whispered, "Are you ok? You're really quiet."
"Yeah. I just... I think I left something over at your house." He stood up suddenly. "I'll be back."
"Cool." Carter watched him go upstairs and then went back to the movie. Her eyes widened when she realized the previews they were watching belonged to the scariest movie she'd ever seen. "Zac... what did I tell you about this movie?"
Zac looked at her, worried. "That it terrifed you to the very core and the evil scary dude reminds you of a mix between a bird and the Jersey Devil..."
"And?"
"And if we ever make you watch it again you'll kill us all?"
"Right. So WHY ARE WE WATCHING IT?!"
Zac laughed and shrugged. "Cause I think it's funny how you can barely get through the opening scene with Trish and Darry driving in the car without screaming and covering her eyes."
"NOT TRUE!" Carter glanced at the tv when first set of white credits on a black screen flashed on the tv. She let out a screech and covered her eyes when she saw the title of the movie. "I CAN'T DO IT! I JUST CAN'T WATCH IT AGAIN!"
Zac laughed and Melissa rolled off of her chair and onto the floor. "Yeah but, Zac, you weren't there when she saw it for the first time. She was sitting in the living room with a blanket on her head, rocking back and forth, trying to convince her self that it would be over soon. Then at the point where the scary guy was laying on street and his wing popped out, she screamed and hid behind the couch."
Zac laughed. "I'm really sorry I missed that."
Carter was still covering her eyes with a pillow when she heard Taylor yell from upstairs. "Car, can you come up here for a minute?"
"YES!" Carter jumped up, thrilled to get away from the movie from hell. She threw her pillow at the tv, ran over, picked it up, and threw it at the tv again before running up the stairs. When she got to Taylor's bedroom she stopped dead in her tracks. "What..."
Taylor wasn't there. Laying on his bed was what appeared to be a red, Taylor acoustic guitar. She walked over to it slowly. It was her dream guitar. Taylor had her dream guitar. She examined it closely without touching it. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
She turned around and stared at Taylor. "Taylor, you got a Taylor..." She paused and shook her head. "I mean... you got a Taylor."
Taylor shook his head back at her. "It's not mine."
Carter blinked.
"I wasn't sure what to get you for your birthday. And since we have a bad habit of missing your birthday... due to circumstances... and the fact that you are now guitarless... I decided this was the best time to give it to you."
Carter blinked again. She wasn't sure what to say. "Tay, this is a four thousand dollar guitar... you can't give this to me. You can't even BUY this."
"Yeah I can." He laughed. "Remember when Zac was going through my stuff and he found a huge wad of cash?"
"You spent that on this?!" She almost shouted. "You can't do that!"
Taylor put his hand on her mouth to silence her. "I was GOING to say... I've been saving that money forever with nothing good to spend it on. And... since I've been saving money forever, there's still a whole lot of it left."
"You still can't give this to me." Carter had no idea what else to say.
"Yes I can. Ever since Zac was old enough to know what a birthday is, he's been upstaging me with gifts for you. I get you a book. He helps install a library in your guest room. I give you a cd. He writes you a song. I get you an autograph from Holly Marie Combs. He gets you a priceless artifact from the show. I'm always shadowed by him. I've been wanting to get you that guitar for a long time."
"So you did..." Carter took a deep breath. "I'm afraid to touch it." She laughed.
"Just promise me you'll play a song for me sometime."
Carter nodded before turning to face him. "Tay, you really think all of Zac's gifts mean more to me than the gifts you give me?"
He nodded.
"You think it all comes down to the gifts?"
He nodded and frowned.
"Right. Well, it doesn't. What means the most to me is that you've spent all of your time TRYING to make me happy. And then I go and barely notice." She sighed. "I'm sorry..."
"Well, did I?"
"Did you what?"
"Make you happy?"
Carter reached down and ran her fingertips across the strings of the guitar. Then, she took both of her hands and placed them on the sides of Taylor's face. She kissed him lightly on the lips and smiled. "You make me very happy." She paused.
"But?"
"But... I just don't want you to spend all of your time trying to make other people happy. It's not healthy. You'll drive yourself crazy. Just be yourself and see what happens."
Taylor nodded. "So, uhm, this whole thing about me asking you out..."
Carter bit her lip.
"Right. I know it's probably not the best time to bring it up since you're going to have to be staying at our house until your's is fixed. But, is there a chance?"
Carter thought for a minute. "I don't want to say there is."
Taylor's expression fell and Carter grabbed his hand.
"Wait. I didn't finish. I don't want to say there is because it will put all kinds of pressure on everything. But I also can't say that there's not a chance. I'm just still getting over Zac... And that is the hardest thing I've ever had to do."
Taylor nodded.
"But I love you. You're one of my best friends. And if something can happen, then I want it to happen. I just need the time to get over Zac." She smiled and stared into his eyes. "Is that ok?"
"Of course it is." He laughed lightly and playfully punched her arm. "You love me..."
Carter laughed. "So... you love me too..." She laughed and gave him a big hug. "Butt munch."
Taylor laughed and hugged her back, smiling over her shoulder at the guitar he'd always wanted her to have.
***For those of you who don't know what movie I'm talking about, go rent Jeepers Creepers. OR buy it like I did and attempt every night to watch it for the second time, only to turn it off the first time you HEAR THAT DAMNED SONG! Don't get me wrong, it's one of the best movies I've ever seen... it's just scary as hell.