"Kristin, I know you have some feelings for me cuz you didn’t pull away from me earlier." He takes your hand again. "Yes I did, I mean I do. I do have feelings for you." You don’t pull away this time. "I like you Kris." She strokes your hair. You pull away and stand up. "I’m ready for a relationship. I have been looking all over for the right girl who can make me laugh and is sensitive and sweet and is not in awe of our fame. I found her, Kristin, you. I know you feel the same way." "I know but I am afraid of getting into a relationship with you or anyone for that matter, no matter how much I like you Taylor, I don’t want to get hurt again." "I would never hurt you," he promises. "You say that now and I can’t help but believe you, but it would be hard on us with you leaving all the time and only getting to see you for two days at a time…" you trail off as he pulls you down onto the bed beside him. "You could come with us during the summer, winter, and spring breaks and on some weekends."
You are about to object but you looked into his eyes, so full of hope and promise, it always happened. You always ended up looking into their eyes. Then they dump you, but their eyes, their eyes. Not this time, you tell yourself. But there was something different about the look in his eyes. Something…peaceful. You sigh. "Do you really want this Taylor?" you ask him. "Yes, more than anything, do you?" "Yes, I do." The words were out of your mouth before you even got the chance to think about it. Maybe I really do want this. He smiles and whispers into your ear, "You don’t know how happy that makes me." You smile half from what he said and half from his breath in your ear.
He leans against the wall and lets out a sigh of relief. "That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done." You sit by him and lean your head on his shoulder. "But it was worth it," he finishes. He puts his arm around you. "We better get to sleep," you say looking up at him. He lightly rubs his thumb down your eyelid and down your cheek. You get up and pull him to his feet. You hug him and say, "Good-night." "Night," he says going back to your brothers’ room. Taylor felt like he was floating on air all the way back to his sleeping bag. He fell asleep grinning.
The next morning, you were awakened by Taylor. "Kristin wake up babe. It’s 11:00 in the morning." You sit straight up, "Woah," you say, "I never sleep this late. I wonder why I was so tired." "Umm, did you forget what happened last night?" Taylor asked nervously. "Never," you assure him. "That’s why I slept late but how long have you been awake?" "I just woke up too." "Oh." You stretch out and take Taylor’s hand and he pulls you up.
You get in the shower and then let Taylor get in. Isaac and Zac had already showered. You were deciding on what to wear and settled on your b-i-g Interstate pants and a blue t-shirt with white stripes across the middle. You are curling your hair when Zac knocks on your door. "Will you braid my hair?" he asks politely. "Sure," you say, pointing to your floor as a motion for him to sit there. You sit on the bed behind him. You grab a small section of his hair and start braiding. He listens to the Middle Of Nowhere CD that you had put on. He sings his parts and Isaac and Taylor hear him. They come in and start singing. You braid and listen. When Man From Milwakee ends, you finally finish. When you are done, your phone rings and you answer it. "Hello? Hi! Uh-huh yeah hang on, Tay! It’s your mom." "Hi… Yeah, uh-huh…OK…sure…can Kris come? OK thanks mom, bye." He hangs up the phone. "That was mom, we gotta go to the nearest mall or store and get placemats and plastic cups. Kristin my mom said you could come over afterwards." "Cool," you say, "How are we getting there?" "Well my mom’s unpacking, you’re parents aren’t home..." You cut in, "Looks like we’re rollerblading or walking guys." "I think we should rollerblade," Zac says. "Actually that’s not a very good idea cuz we would rollerblade halfway then have to take them off and hold them the rest of the way in throughout the mall." "Why?" all three guys ask. "No sidewalks." "What about our motorcycles?" asks Isaac. "Oh yeah," says Taylor. "Problem there," you say. "Huh?" asks Zac. "I don’t have one." You can ride on the back of mine," Taylor says, putting his arms around your waist.
"You guys aren’t going out are you?" asks Isaac. "Yeah, actually," you say. Zac stares at you wide eyed. You hit his chin lightly. He smiles and his eyes go back to normal. "Wow," says Isaac. "Gimme five ‘lil bro." Taylor slaps him five and then smiles at you. He puts his arm back around your waist. You decide to rollerblade down to their house and get the motorcycles and go to the mall. You call your mom at work and tell her what you’re doing. She says OK and you strap your rollerblades on and go. You and Taylor hold hands the whole way.