Taylor knocked on the Mullholand’s front door to have it answered almost instantly by Sam’s father.
“Hey there Taylor. Sammy said you’d probably be stopping by tonight,” he smiled as he ushered her inside the house.
“Hey Mr. Mullholand,” she smiled back. Sam’s father was the greatest guy she’d ever known. He’d always treated her like family, right from the very beginning.
“He’s up in his bedroom. You can just go on up.”
She nodded, then went up the stairs and into Sam’s room, only to find him sleeping peacefully in his bed.
Quietly, Taylor dropped her bag onto his desk chair. She tiptoed over to him and sat on the edge of the bed, gently stroking his cheek before kissing his lips softly.
Slowly he opened his eyes, and a smile crept onto his face. “When did you get here?” he yawned.
“Just now…” she smiled back, but just as quickly as it came, the smile faded. “Sam, we need to talk.”
“What’s wrong?” he sat up and stretched, rubbing his eyes.
“Us…” she trailed off.
“What’s wrong with us?” he asked suddenly. She had gained his attention faster than he ever remembered her doing so.
“I’m not sure if this is what I want anymore…I’m not sure if this is what’s good for both of us.”
It was so sudden, such a shock to hear those words escape her lips.
“What are you talking about? Taylor, come on…I love you…” he began to protest, but she quickly cut him off.
“And I love you, but things have changed, we’ve changed. You’ve gotten yourself involved in something I don’t agree with and you’re a different person because of it.”
“You’re still mad about the drugs, fine, I understand. I didn’t think it ran this deep, but I’ll stop, okay? There, as of this moment, I’m through, finished, done,” Sam rambled, throwing his hands up in surrender.
“It’s not that easy! My god. Do you realize that were fifteen when we met? Fifteen. Do you know how old fifteen is? Pretty damn young. And over the past three years, I’ve grown up a lot. I realized that I want a lot out of life, and what I don’t wan, is a boyfriend who’s at risk everyday of being shot over some worthless two-bit drug deal on the second floor boys bathroom. Maybe I’m overreacting, but I think about that stuff, ya know, Sam. And it scares me. And you’re different. So different. You never used to care about money and all that, but you’re obsessed with it. God, you make me so angry!” she spoke fast and passionately, finally rising from her seat and turning her back to him.
“Hey,” he said cautiously, standing as well and moving behind her. He placed one hand on the small of her back and rubbed lightly, “We’ll just have to work at it, ya know. Nothing worth having comes easy, and I think maybe, we’ve just hit a rough spot, but I can change. I will change. For you. Because I love you.”
“Sam, what’s gonna happen when we graduate? We’re both heading off to college, we’re gonna meet different people, do you have any idea how it’s going to be once we aren’t together everyday from seven a.m. to three p.m.?”
“Listen, neither of us is leaving the state, or the city for that matter. Our schools are just a couple of blocks apart. We’ll just have to make sure that we always have time for each other.”
“And let’s say you meet some irresistible girl at school…” Taylor started bitterly.
“No girl is as irresistible as you, Taylor Kelso…in my eyes, anyway,” he smiled, then spun her around to face him. “Let’s move in together.”
“What?”
“We’ll find a little apartment between the school’s and we’ll move in together, that way we’ll always have each other around at the end of the day.”
“Are you mad? How in any way is that relevant to what we’re discussing right now? Moving in together…you amaze me sometimes, you know that. Where do you come up with this stuff?” she dropped back onto her bed, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Listen, if we’re living together, we can keep an eye on each other. Also, if I keep up my end of the bargain and forget about my underworld business ventures, and we still have problems, then we’ll know, for sure, the party’s over. But if not, it could bring us closer together. It’d be like, playing ‘house’…get us ready for the real thing,” he smiled, kneeling down so that he was level with her.
She couldn’t help but give him an exasperated half smile. “You really love me?”
He placed his hand on her cheek. “So much it hurts,” he nodded, “and I know we aren’t perfect, we’ll fix it.”
He kissed her then, almost as if that simple act would seal his vow to her.
At that very moment, his kisses, his words and promises, his very presence was intoxicating to her. She became lost in his lips and hands.
Their kisses became deeper, and the moment turned into minutes. They were lost in one another’s body, physically promising the other forever.
And then, Sam’s cell phone rang.
“Let it ring,” she pleaded, holding him tightly.
“Two seconds…I promise,” he kissed her forehead, then reached for the phone, answering it. “Yeah?…oh hey…yeah…I can do that…no I’m home…okay…okay…be here in ten…bye,” he placed the phone back on the table.
Taylor jumped up, began to regain her composure, and put her clothes back on in a hurry.
“Baby, what’re you doing?” Sam asked, watching her.
“THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT, SAM!” she screamed, pulling her shoes onto her feet. “We can’t even have sex without you worrying about making a deal. And after all we just talked about!…I’m gone, Sam,” she threw him an icy and angry glare, then stormed out of his room.
Sam threw his jeans on then and chased after. “Taylor! Taylor, come back here!”
But it was too late. By the time he’d reached the landing at the top of the stairs, she was out the front door.
He returned to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. He couldn’t believe what he’d just done.
“DAMMIT!” he picked up his T.V. remote control and chucked it at the wall, shattering the cheap piece of plastic into a thousand fragments.
“Come with me?” Scott Lowman requested of Brooklynn.
“Where’re we goin’?” his girlfriend asked in return.
“Sam’s. He’s got some stuff for me.”
Scott was a whole year younger than the rest of the gang—seventeen and still a junior. He was tall and lanky with short almost buzzed brown hair that had a small white patch just above his right ear. He had wide, ‘puppy dog’ brown eyes and a goofy yet sincere grin that was bordered by a light goatee.
“Whatever,” she shrugged.
The two had been spending a boring night at Brooklynn’s house, sitting on the couch watching movies. Though they always enjoyed spending time together, the night hadn’t been too exciting. At least with Sam, there was always the unexpected.
“Dude, what the hell happened in here?” Scott question as he and Brooklynn walked into Sam’s room to find the place in a total state of chaos. It looked as though a hurricane had blown through.
“She left me. I never thought she’d actually do it, but she did. She left me. And it’s all my fault. I can’t believe I screwed up this bad…” Sam was speaking calmly, almost eerily, lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling.
“Okay, so, what happened?” Brooklynn asked cautiously, sitting on the edge of the bed next to him as Scott went to work, picking up the larger chunks of Sam’s broken belongings.
“We were…ya know…when Scott called, and instead of ignoring the phone like I should have done, I answered it, and instead of telling him to wait until tomorrow like I should’ve done, I told him he could come over tonight. And she got pissed off cause right before we…ya know...we had this long talk about all of this and how it had to stop…yadda, yadda, yadda,” he let out a heavy sigh. “I’m such a moron. I can’t believe how stupid I truly am.”
“Look, just wait it out tonight. Let her cool down, and talk to her tomorrow, ya know,” Scott advised. “You got my stuff, though, right?”
“Twenty-five,” Sam sat up and handed his friend a small package. Once stowing the package in a pocket, Scott handed Sam the money.
“Do you want me to talk to her for you or something? Cause I can call her if you’d like…” Brooklynn offered.
Sam just shook his head. “This is between her and me…I’m gonna have to fix this on my own. But thanks, Brook.”
“Anytime,” she gave him a weak smile, then followed Scott out of the house.
“So talking didn’t do any good, then, “ Hayden asked calmly.
After leaving Sam, Taylor had gone to Hayden’s, for lack of anywhere else to turn, and was sitting Indian-style in the middle of this floor, crying and telling him everything.
“No, it didn’t make any difference. I thought it did at first. He was being so…sweet and loving and I wanted to believe that I’d actually scared him into quitting…threatening to leave and all but NO, the frigin phone rings and he forgets all about me,” she sobbed.
“Shhhh…” he sat next to her and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her small and shaking form. “You can sleep here. You know that. Now calm down, okay. You’re gonna give yourself an ulcer before you’re twenty if you don’t stop getting so worked up. I’m gonna find you something to sleep in, okay.”
“Hayden I’m sorry to come here and bother you with all my drama, but I had nowhere else to go…” she calmed down as he handed her a pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt.
“I’m your best friend. This is my job,” he replied with a smile, then he yawned. A quick glance at his clock told him that it was just after midnight. “You want the bed or the floor?” he asked her.
“We can share the bed…I don’t have cooties, I promise,” she laughed as she finished changing.
“Don’t you think it’ll be awkward…?”
“Would you stop being ridiculous and get into bed,” she smiled as she got under the covers.
“Fine,” he sighed, then got in and lay down next to her. The two fell asleep almost instantly.
After leaving Sam, Scott and Brooklynn had retreated to the local park—one of their favorites places to have out after dark.
“Think she’ll take him back?” Scott question, lighting a cigarette.
The young couple was sitting on the swings, recounting what had happened between their best friends. Brooklynn reached over and stole one of Scott’s cigarettes.
She lit the Marlboro and thought for a moment before she answered his question. “She loves him, and despite her little ‘bad ass’ act, she’s a complete romantic at heart. I figure, she’s angry now, but if he plays her right, and let’s face it, that boy can play her like I’ve never seen anyone played before, this will all be a nasty memory by say, nine a.m. tomorrow morning,” she took a long drag from her cigarette and began to slowly swing.
“Would you take me back?”
She shrugged.
“That’s no answer.”
“What are you really asking me, Scott? Do I love you? No…not now anyway…but I think I’m starting to…”
Scott just raised his eyebrows and looked at her in silent shock.
“Um…I didn’t mean to…um…” he stammered trying to find the right words and his voice. Finally, he gave up and took a drag from his cigarette.
Brook sighed. “Listen, this is new to me, ya know. Thanks to my parent’s strict rules, and my lack of confidence, I haven’t really gotten to ‘date’ a lot. And now that I’m with you, someone I care about deeply, I guess I’m just a little on edge. I’m not sure what to do or what to expect quite yet…” she explained apologetically.
Scott tossed his cigarette, now nothing more than a barely lit butt, into the brush and stood in front of his girlfriend, wrapping his hands around the chains of her swing, bringing her to a sudden halt.
“Expect me to fall for you more and more everyday,” he whispered before gently kissing her forehead. “I love you, and I want you to know that. But don’t say it back until you mean it. The words mean nothing unless it comes from within you.”
She smiled slowly. “How’d a nice guy like you get mixed up with the likes of Sam? Don’t get me wrong, Same’s a great guy, but you’re just so…not him.”
“We got into a fist fight. Actually, to be more accurate, he confronted me, and I got one good hit in before he beat the tar out of me. I was fooling around with this girl he was dating…this was all right before he hooked up with Taylor, and after the fight, instead of turning him in, I refused to give any information. I mean, I deserved it and I knew it. When he heard about what I’d done, we formed a kind of partnership.”
She laughed lightly. “Interesting…”
By this time, Scott had seated himself comfortably on the ground. “How about you and Kelso? How’d you two find each other?”
“First off, what you have to realize is that she wasn’t always the way she is now. When I met her, she was this bubbly little blonde, obsessed with Hanson and the Backstreet Boys and the Spice Girls. She was never a total prep or anything, but she was a far cry from the Mistress of the Night she claims to be now. She turned that way after Sam came along.”
“Do you know that the first time I ever laid eyes on you, you took my breath away?”
He noticed her blushing in the moonlight, but he continued his story anyway. “You and Kelso were on your way to a club or a party or something and you’d stopped by Sam’s to see if he wanted to go, and I was there with him, just hangin’ out. You looked like you stepped out of a music video…I remember you were wearing this black halter top and these tight pants…I’d never seen anyone like you. And I asked Sam about you, and he said you didn’t date much—strict parents and lack of interest, so I kinda dropped it, but I never forgot you…that was, what, almost a year ago…”
She got off of her swing and sat down in front of him. Her lips captured his quickly.
“It’s getting late,” Scott whispered gently as their lips parted.
Brooklynn glanced at her watch…nearly one a.m. Scott’s curfew was one o’clock, no later.
“C’mon…I’ll take you home,” she stood up, pulled him to his feet, and they were off.