"M-m-married?" I stuttered out, putting on a fake, surprised expression.
"Mm, hmm." my dad established, smiling and taking Diana's hand.
"Marriage, as in, husband and wife?" Brian tried to put two and two together, twirling his fingers in a circle.
"Yes, of course silly!" Diana giggled, smiling.
Taylor and I scooted away from each other immediately, looking down.
"The wedding is supposed to be later this summer." my dad said, trying to lighten the deaf mood.
I turned my head up, a fake smile plastered on my face. "Wow. When did you both discuss and decide this?" I asked curiously, pretending to be happy and not shocked.
"I proposed to her in April." my dad replied.
"And you waited until the end of May to tell us?" I questioned back.
"Well, yes, I guess." Diana said.
"Wow. Um, Taylor, can I see you upstairs, please?" I asked him, turning my face towards him but still looking at the ground.
"Why?" he asked shyly.
"I just need to. Now." I said sternly, and walked toward the stairs, and he cautiously walked behind me.
We walked into my room, and I closed the door.
"They can't get married." Taylor stated, and vigorously ran his fingers through his hair once, and he looked frustrated. He began to pace the room.
"I know Tay. I mean, to think! We're going out together." I said, and sat down on the bed, crossing my arms, and stared at the wall.
Taylor didn't say anything. He was just shaking his head from side to side.
"Taylor?" I asked gently, looking up and walking up to him, placing my hand on his back.
"What!?" he yelled, turning around shoving my hand away.
"What is your problem?" I yelled back at him, standing where I was.
"Your dad and my mom cannot get married. Why would they do this to us?" he asked disgustedly.
"Taylor, how were they supposed to know that we're sneaking around when they decided to wed each other?" I asked.
"We aren't sneaking around." he said.
"Taylor, we're sneaking around behind their backs. They don't know we're going out." I told him.
"Well, what are we going to do, since you practically know everything else." he said rudely, turning his gaze away from me.
I had enough of this. "Taylor." I said flatly.
He turned around and faced me. I looked at him for a second, and then I brought my hand to his shoulder and punched it with force.
Tears welled up in my eyes, and Taylor put his hand on the sensitive area that I had hit.
"Cut the crap Taylor! Why are you being so rude?" I cried.
"Why did you do that, Noelle?" he asked lowly.
"No, you deserved that. But I don't deserve your attitude. Now stop it." I ordered.
He looked at me. "I'm sorry." he said quietly, and went over to hug me. I didn't want to hug him after the way he treated me. I pushed him away, and I guess he understood why; and he went to sit on the bed.
"What are we going to do?" he asked me more nicely, looking up at me.
"I really don't know," I replied, "I mean, there's no stopping them. Who knew my dad would get married again after my mother's death? I wouldn't blame him, I guess; your mom's really sweet. She reminds me of mine. My mother was the best. She always made my favorite: real espanola pollo enchiladas. The house was always so warm, and she was always cooking and cleaning. I love her so much, and I miss her dearly."
"I'm sorry about your mom. But, your dad's not bad either." Taylor replied, and was uncomfortable about me talking about my mother.
"Well, there is one thing I think we should do." I said half-heartedly.
"That we can't keep what we have going on here?" he guessed, even though he already knew the answer.
"Yeah. I mean, that would be weird and gross if we were going out and we'd be somewhat related, or what could've occured earlier, having sex, when our parents are married." I said.
"So this is the end." he guessed.
"Yeah." I replied. There was a deep silence among us. My disappointment of our break-up went away fast. I thought about if we did have sex, would it a kind of incest? I mean, since we'll be kinda step-half related. I decided it wouldn't be, but you couldn't be too sure. Luckily, it didn't happen.
"We're going to be related." I spoke up.
"We're going to fight a lot." he said.
"We're going to be living under the same roof." I said another.
"Ohhhhhhh." we said in a sarcastic unison tone, shaking our heads no and wrinkling our faces up.
We went to walk downstairs and join my dad and Diana to plan dinner.
"I guess I was a bit rational hitting you." I said.
"You were, but I guess in a way, I deserved it." he said, putting his arm comfortably around my shoulder.
"I'm still older, at least." I taunted him, and smiled.