Ring...Ring
"Hello?" Erica picked up her phone.
"Hi." a voice said.
"Ummm...hi, who is this?" she asked.
"Mike." the voice said.
"Mike?" Erica said confused and stopped putting her shoe on.
"From the library?" he said trying to jog her memory.
"Oh Mike! What's up?" she asked. Why is he calling me? she thought.
"Well listen, I thought if you were done with the book I could come over and get it and we could, oh I don't know, hang out?" he asked.
"Ummm, I can't tonight." she said as she finished putting on her shoe.
"Why? You got a date?" he teased.
"Actually..." she said smoothing down her dress.
"Oh I see." he said. She could hear the disappointment in his voice.
"How about if I call you tomorrow?" Am I insane? she asked herself. Her eyes fell upon the picture of her and Taylor on her night table next to her bed.
"Sure that's fine." he said.
"Okay then. Bye."
"Bye."
She hung up and smoothed her dress down again. She stood in front of her mirror. Oh God am I that horrible? Mike is just a friend. He is completley platonic, and us hanging out would be completley innocent. Right? Is it really that innocent if I have to ask myself if my intentions are completley good? Are they? Yes they are. God Erica you're so stupid. You have Taylor. And from the looks of things he is gonna be around for awhile. Everything is going to be fine, she told herself and then left her room to meet Taylor for their one month anniversary. She didn't believe in one month anniversaries but decided to go somewhere with him at his insistence.
"So...how'd you like dinner?" Taylor asked Erica as they stood outside of the restaraunt in the dark, cold night.
"It was good...probably expensive..." Erica said as she protested yet again to Taylor's choice of a restaraunt.
Taylor smiled,"You're worth it. And it's not like I don't have some money to spend on you. I get to spoil you. It's fun."
Erica shook her head and looked off into the starry night,"I don't understand you."
Taylor's smile fell. It was a special occasion. He just wanted to do everything he could to make it even more special. Why couldn't she understand that? He wasn't trying to make things complicated. He was just trying to make things special.
When Erica didn't hear him answer she turned to look at him. His smile had faded and he was staring at her sadly. She immediatley felt bad for being such a bitch about him spending money on her. She stepped closer to him and linked her arms through his,"I'm sorry Tay. I really like that you brought me here and tried to make things perfect. It was perfect."
"You made it perfect." he whispered.
Erica stared into his blue eyes. Why did he always have to say things like that? Why did he always have to be so sweet? What was she supposed to say now? She didn't have anything sweet to say to him. Nothing that could make him feel as good as he just made her feel. She didnt know what to do, but the urge to kiss him crossed her mind. So she gently pressed her lips to his.
When they pulled away Taylor sighed,"It's a great night. Screw the cab, let's walk."
Erica giggled,"Are you trying to be spontanious?"
Taylor smiled,"I don't know. It depends on if you like it."
Erica tilted her head to the side and bit her lip,"I find it slightly appealing yes."
They walked for awhile in silence, Erica latched onto his arm. Taylor loved how he didn't even have to make conversation. Just being with her made his heart beat faster and made him feel at peace all at the same time. He felt Erica slightly shiver.
He looked at her,"You know, you should really bring a jacket with you." he said smiling.
"I'm not cold." she replied.
He stopped walking and started to pull his jacket off,"You know it's a shame to cover up that gorgeous dress with this jacket."
He once again surveyed her dress. It really was gorgeous. It was black, crushed velvet that felt like heaven every time he touched it. And it seemd to cling to her in just the right places. And the way she topped it off with a simple silver necklace made it all the more elegant.
"Keep your jacket Tay. You've given me your jacket before, no need to try to be Mr. Romantic again." she told him.
He placed his jacket on her shoulders,"Yeah so I can be Mr. Asshole and let you freeze out here? No thanks."
She started to protest his actions,"Yeah but now you're going to..."
Taylor touched his finger gently to her lips to silence her,"Don't worry about it. You worry too much. Just let me be a nice guy alright?"
She nodded.
Taylor brought his lips down onto hers. In the starry night the two of them kissed gently as if nothing could ever ruin them or pull them apart. They had no worries, and everything would turn out right. They hoped.
Ding Dong
"Okay, okay I'm coming!" Erica called.
Ding Dong
"One minute!" she yelled as she trudged down the stairs. She walked to the door and pulled it open,"Yes, the doorbell works very good. Thank you."
"Hi." Mike said.
"Oh," Erica said and blushed in embarassment of being so rude.
"Sorry about the doorbell thing." he apologized.
"Oh it's alright. I just wasn't expecting you yet. You're early." she said glancing at her watch.
"I know," Mike said,"I just couldn't stand to wait a minute longer to see you again."
Erica smiled nervously,"Oh, that's sweet."
Mike turned red,"I'm doing that flirting thing again aren't I?"
Erica nodded,"Yup. You are. So are you going to come in?" she asked stepping back and pulling the door open wider.
"Oh yeah, that would make sense. I mean that's the whole point of having a door, it leads somewhere. So yeah coming through the door would make sense because then I would be..." he stopped talking when he saw Erica raising her eyebrows,"I'm rambling aren't I?" he asked.
"It's okay." she said smiling.
Mike walked into her house rubbing his hands together,"Yeah I have a knack for rambling in intense situations."
"What's so intense about the situation?" Erica asked.
"Well you know. I'm in the house of a very pretty girl. That alone is pretty intense." he smiled.
Erica looked at him,"You're doing the flirting thing again." she pointed out.
"Sorry," he apologized,"I thought I was flattering you."
Erica nodded,"Well you were, but thanks for flattering me."
There was an awkward silence. Mike rocked back and forth for a second,"So, the uh, book?" he asked.
"Oh right! I forgot. Okay well, why don't you make yourself at home while I go upstairs and get it."she said.
Mike nodded and turned to go down the hall. Erica let out a deep breath and went upstairs to get the book from her room. She walked in and grabbed the book off of her night table. She caught a glimpse of that picture of her and Taylor. She could see him smiling up at her. In one swift movement she put the picture face down.
"Erica? I couldn't find the living room." Mike spoke from the doorway.
Erica whirled around,"Oh, my bad. I didn't show you were it was."
Mike stepped into her room,"Nice room. Very..." he scanned the room,"pink." he smiled.
Erica hugged the book to her chest and surveyed the walls,"Yeah I know. I helped paint them when I was a little girl. I remember that day because I broke my finger when Taylor stepped on it." she said in fond remembrance of that day.
They had been seven years old. Finally Erica had been able to get her parents to change the color of her room from lavender to pink. Pink was her favorite color of the moment. She remembered Taylor making fun of the color she had chosen.
"You're such a girl." he had said.
Erica remembered though, that he had come over to help her paint it with her parents. He had the crazy idea that somehow he could make paint balls. Even though Erica had shot down that idea saying pink was not a good color for paint balls Taylor insisted on trying it. They were so nieve. Taylor had had a rolled up ball of masking tape which he tried to paint and pass off as a paint ball. When he threw it at her she screamed. He ran over to get the ball so he could hide all evidence of his paint ball experiment but Erica squatted down to get it first. Taylor ran right over her hand. She had screamed bloody murder, and Taylor... oh poor little Taylor, he...
"Whose Taylor?" Mike asked. His voice slicing into her memory.
"Who?" Erica asked startled,"oh Taylor. He's uh..." she stared into Mike's happy eyes,"he's someone very dear to my heart."
"So, what do you want to do today?" Isaac asked Stacie.
"I don't know, maybe just lay in your arms all day." Stacie replied leaning over on her couch towards Isaac.
Isaac smiled,"That is correct. You earn a kiss." he leaned over and gently touched his lips to hers.
"Ooh, when do I get to answer another question?" she smiled.
"Let's skip that part." Isaac said wrapping his arms around her and giving her a deep french kiss.
"If you say so." Stacie said pulling Isaac to her for another kiss.
He started laying her down on the couch. He moved his lips down to her neck and then ran his hand across her stomach and under her shirt. He heard her breath deeply and he picked his head up to look at her only for her to pull him to her for a deep french kiss. She ran her hands to Isaac's back and started to pull his shirt off. She pulled off his shirt and discarded it on the floor. She kissed his bare shoulder, and he started to pull off her shirt.
"STACIE!" a voice shouted.
Isaac and Stacie bolted up and Stacie pushed Isaac off of her and he fell to the floor. The voice belonged to her mother.
"Bob get in here!" her mother barked to her father.
Stacie and Isaac both turned the same shade of red.
"What?" her father asked and then stopped dead in his tracks when he walked in the room. Both parents stared at the teenagers who wanted to drop through the floor. Stacie's mother sighed.
"Put some clothes on and come into the kitchen please." she said and dragged her husband, who was still gawking at the sight before him, into the kitchen.
Isaac looked at Stacie who picked up his shirt and handed it to him,"What are we gonna do?" Stacie asked.
"Well I have two plans." Isaac said putting on his shirt.
"Really?" Stacie asked looking at him expectantly.
"Yes. Plan A is we handle this responsibly." he said.
Stacie bit her lip,"Umm, what else do you got?"
"Plan B I need a gun for."
"1...2...3!!!" Zac screeched as he jumped off the swing and landed on the ground with a thump.
"You're crazy Zac! You're gonna kill yourself one day!" Kerri exclaimed.
Zac shrugged,"Oh well," he said dragging himself up off the ground,"Hey I made better distance that time!"
"I could beat you." Kerri challenged.
"I don't want to embarrass you babe." Zac said rather full of himself.
She playfully pushed him. He raised his eyebrows.
"You want a piece of this?" he said motioning to himself.
"A piece of what?" Kerri joked.
Zac shrugged,"Oh well...not my funeral." he took off running for her.
Kerri shrieked and took off running. He chased her around the park until she dropped to the ground laughing at Zac who claimed to be Sylvester Stallone's long lost twin. He fell on top of her and she pushed him off and rolled on top of him. She pressed her lips to his quickly. Zac felt his face turn beet red.
"Zac you're the color of a tomato!" Kerri exclaimed.
"Oh, um, must have been all that running."
"Oh." Kerri said quietly and rolled off of him.
"Yeah um, I think I gotta go." he said pulling himself up off of the ground and hopping on his bike.
"Okay, well call me later!" Kerri yelled to Zac who was practically a block away by now.
"Uh, sure!" he called over his shoulder.
"Okay Erica. Well thanks for the book but I think I better be going." Mike said standing up.
"Oh, okay. Well let me walk you to the door." she said pulling herself up off of the couch.
"Is it okay if I call you sometime? We can hang out together without the pitiful excuse of needing a book." he said.
Erica smiled,"No you can't call me...ever." she joked.
Mike smiled,"Aah once again my stupid questions have me looking like a moron."
"That's not true, you're not a moron." she said shaking her head,"I can tell. We just had an hour of civilized conversation in which I found you delgihtful and charming."
Mike nodded,"I think the flirting thing is rubbing off on you." he told her.
Erica shrugged her shoulders,"Is that a bad thing?"
Mike grinned,"I don't know." he said and then leaned down to hug her goodbye.
Erica was slightly taken aback by this gesture but hugged him back.
He opened the door and stepped onto the porch then he turned around,"So I'll call you." he said grabbing her hand.
Erica nodded. Mike kissed her hand and then smiled,"Aah the soft hands."
Erica giggled,"Goodbye Mike." she said as she closed the door.
"So long." he said.
Erica shut the door and let out a deep breath. Completley platonic. she told herself. She walked into the kitchen to get a bottle of water,You have Taylor, and he's a sweetie. Of course Mike is sweet too, and I find Mike very intellectually stimulating...wait a second! Intellectually stimulating? What the hell am I thinking? No, forget about Mike. He's a friend. Taylor is your boyfriend. And why doesn't Mike know that? Because I didn't tell him, why didn't I tell him? Because I didn't want to hurt him. Yes that's it. He likes me and I can't stand to hurt him so I played along for an afternoon. I was doing him a favor. I should be commemorated for doing such a good deed. Right?
The doorbell cut through Erica's thoughts.
She went to answer the door thinking Mike had forgot something. But when she opened the door Taylor was standing there.
"Hey Tay." she said opening the door so he could walk in.
"Hi." he said kissing her cheek as he made his way into her house.
Erica suddenley felt incredibly guilty about what she had done with Mike. Wait she hadn't really done anything! She had told a friend to call her. Completley harmless.
"I have something important to tell you." Taylor said.
"Oh?" Erica said raising her eyebrows,"Well tell me while I get some water. Want some?" she asked.
"What? Oh no, no I'm fine thanks." he said as he followed her into the kitchen.
"So spill the beans." she said as she reached into the refrigerator to get her bottle of water.
"What?" he said as he sat down on a stool at the island in the kitchen.
"Didn't you have to tell me something?" she asked taking a sip from her water bottle and leaning on the island waiting for him to talk.
"Oh yeah. We're uh...umm.." he stuttered,"Are those new earings?" he changed the subject.
Erica looked at him confused,"No."
"Oh, well umm..okay...you know how the band has to do, uh, band things." he said.
Erica nodded,"Yeah."
"Okay, well we have to do band things." he said and leaned back on the stool.
Erica raised her eyebrows,"Cool. What kind of band things?" she asked. She had the sneaking suspiscion that he was trying to avoid what he really had to tell her.
"We are going away, to do promotional stuff." he said.
"Oh," she said and took another sip of her water,"well when do you leave?" she asked.
Taylor drummed his fingers on the counter and winced,"Two weeks."
"Woah, that's pretty soon." she said nodding and walked out of the room towards the living room.
"Shit." Taylor said to himself and followed her into the living room. When he got in there she was flipping through the channels on the T.V,"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine." Erica said not looking at him and concentrating on the T.V.
Taylor walked over and sat by her,"Are you mad?" he asked.
"No." she said and kept changing channels.
"Sad?" he asked.
"Damnit. Why isn't there anything on T.V?" she said aloud.
Taylor gently pulled the remote from her hand and turned the T.V off.
She bit her lip and stared at the blank screen.
Taylor stared at her quietly waiting for her to say something. He pushed some hair out of her face.
"I knew this was going to happen." she said to him,"Sooner or later you guys were going to leave for a long time. I expected it." she turned and looked at him,"I didn't expect it so soon though."
Taylor nodded,"I know."
"So why did you ask me out?" Erica said suddenley turning away from him.
Taylor was caught completley off guard,"What?"
"Didn't you think about how much this would hurt me in the long run? Am I going to have to sit at home by myself waiting for you all of the time? Watching as you miss important things..." she said.
"I'm not going to miss anything important." he said shaking his head.
"Christams, my birthday, Stacie's birthday..." she rattled off.
"I won't miss any of them. I will be here for every single important thing you do." he told her.
She looked at him,"Promise?" she asked.
Taylor stared at her. Promise. The word that could melt his heart in a second when she uttered it.
"Jump down Erica! I'll catch you." a nine year old Taylor called up into the tree.
"I'm afraid!" she called back.
"I won't let you fall! I'm your best friend remember? Best friends are always there for each other. I'll catch you now jump down!" he yelled.
"Promise?" she asked.
He looked up into her frightened brown eyes,"I promise!" he yelled back.
She nodded and closed her eyes and jumped. All of a sudden the girl in the overalls and ponytail tied up with a pink ribbon fell into his arms and they crashed to the ground.
"I told you I'd catch you." he grinned.
Taylor once again found himself looking into her frightened brown eyes,"I promise." he whispered.
Isaac and Stacie sat at the kitchen table next to each other. Both were avoiding the harsh glares from her parents.
"Stacie," her mother began,"we are not really mad about what you were doing..."
"You're not?" Stacie interrupted.
"No we are mad, but what pissed us off even more is that you were doing it in our house on our couch." her father clarified.
"Better than the backseat of a car though." Stacie pointed out.
"I think you should keep your smart little comments to yourself missy, you're already in enough hot water." her mother snapped.
Stacie leaned back in the kitchen chair and crossed her arms,"We're not embarrassed about what we were doing. Are we Isaac?"
Isaac looked at Stacie in shock. How did he get thrown into this? If she wanted to defy her parents that was her business. He was a good kid, he respected his elders. Isaac shifted uncomfortably under the harsh gazes of Stacie's parents,"Whatever you think Stacie." he muttered.
"Well," Mrs. Fink snapped,"I will need your phone number Isaac, since I don't count on you telling your parents. So may I have your phone number?"
"He's not giving you anything." Stacie told her mother.
Isaac glanced at Stacie wide-eyed. What the hell is this? he thought.
"We have principles," Stacie continued,"and we refuse to be pushed around by you people. You think you're..."
Isaac interrupted her,"Shut-up. I'm not getting in any more trouble than I have to for this. If you want to throw this in your parents faces to get back at them for something lame do it on your own time. Don't drag me into this."
Stacie looked at Isaac with pure disbelief as he rattled off the seven digits to his phone number.
"Walker!" Mrs. Hanson called after she hung up the phone.
"Yes?" he asked walking into the living room.
"We are supposed to go to our son, Isaac's girlfriends house to discuss something with her parents." Diana said raising her eyebrows.
"What's going on? Did Isaac do something?" Walker asked.
"I have no clue. Her mother only insisted that we talk in person."
"Well that can't be good." he said.
"Well then we should go. Where's Taylor? He has to watch the little ones." Diana said.
"I'm pretty sure he's at Erica's. But I think he was telling her about their trip in two weeks, so I don't think we should get him. What about Zac?" Walker said.
"Do you think he's old enough?" Diana asked.
"He's going to be twelve. I think we can trust him." Walker assured her.
Isaac slowly marched himself inside the house followed closley by his parents. He felt like he was on Death Row. He could almost her that guy yelling Dead man walking!
"Go sit in the kitchen Isaac. Your mother and I will be there in a second." his father said.
Is the kitchen some universal place of punishment? Isaac thought as he walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a glass and filled it with water. Then he sat down at the table just staring at his water. Zac walked into the kitchen.
"Whatever you did, you're in for it." Zac informed him.
"Probably." Isaac answered quietly.
"Definatley, mom and dad don't exactly sound like their whistling dixie." Zac said walking to the fridge.
Isaac turned to look at Zac,"Whistling dixie?!" he asked.
Zac shrugged,"Something some dude said on T.V."
Mr. and Mrs. Hanson walked into the kitchen and sat at the table across from Isaac. Zac dawdled over what he wanted.
"Well Isaac," his father started,"we can't exactly punish you for curiosity..."
A wave of relief overcame Isaac.
"But," his mother jumped in,"that doesn't mean we aren't going to try."
Shot down! Back to square one. Isaac thought.
"Now we've discussed this. And though I think you should be firmly punished," Mrs. Hanson said,"you're father does not believe so."
Here dad comes to save the day! Isaac sang in his head.
"So we compromised, since I did not believe in letting you off that easy." Mrs. Hanson said.
Isaac had to hold back the urge to laugh because he figured his mother threatned his father. She probably told him no sex for awhile if they didn't punish him, and his father, being a male, quickly caved in.
"So, you are sentenced to four free babysitting jobs..." his father began,"spending lots of quality time with your brothers Taylor and Zac. Which means for about a month, when they want to go somewhere, you get to drive them. If you have previous engagements, they will be dropped for the benifit of your brothers, since they are pretty much the only ones that want to go places, and you get to take over their chores for a week."
Isaac stared at his parents,"That's a compromise? What were you going to do before? Drag me out into the street and shoot me?" he cried in disbelief.
Zac patted his brother on the back,"It's my week for dishes, oops I mean you're week for dishes!" he cackled.
"Zachary, leave the room!" his mother comanded.
Zac, who was still snickering, left the room.
"I think, if you take into consideration the given situation, we are being awfully fair." his mother said.
Isaac opened his mouth to argue.
His father held up his hand,"I suggest you think long and hard before saying what you're thinking, because we can and will prolong that punishment."
Isaac closed his mouth.
"Two weeks Erica okay?" Taylor said.
Erica nodded,"I know Taylor."
"I promise that we will spend the majority of those two weeks together." he told her wrapping his arms around her waist.
Erica nodded, her eyes filling with tears
"Don't be upset." Taylor said staring into her eyes.
Erica's bottom lip trembled as she tried to find a shred of happiness inside of her. She couldn't find one. Everything was falling apart. She was so confused. Her parents left her home alone almost all of the time. She had such little indication of love from them. Justin, who was supposed to be one of her best friends practically killed her. Now Mike comes along and her relationship with Taylor hangs in the balance of that friendship. And the one person she relies on the most is leaving in two weeks to go over seas. She felt like she was tumbling in circles and didn't know which end was up. Her tears of frustration and unhappiness finally spilt over.
"Please don't cry." he whispered.
Erica tried to wipe the tears from her eyes but it wasn't working because when she got her eyes dry they got teary all over again.
Taylor pulled her close to him,"Please," he whispered,"don't worry. Everything works out in the end. You know that. Don't you?"
Erica nodded,"Yeah."
Taylor pulled back and pushed some tears off of her face,"You know if you don't stop crying you'll have no tears left for when I leave. You'll be running on empty and everyone else will be crying but you." he joked.
Erica laughed through her tears,"You're insane."
"You laughed." Taylor pointed out,"I think my charming ways are affecting you."
"Hey Ike?"
"Hey Zac?" Isaac mimicked.
"What do you do when a girl kisses you?" he asked.
Isaac raised his eyebrows,"Kiss her back." he answered.
Zac flopped on his bed,"Well what if it happened so fast and you didn't get a chance to respond and you aren't sure if you like the whole situation to begin with?"
"Did someone kiss you Zac?" Isaac asked leaning over the edge of the top bunk to look at Zac laying in the trundle.
"Kind of." Zac answered.
"What do you mean kind of? It happened or it didn't."
"It happened." Zac said.
"And, who was it?" Isaac pryed
"No one." Zac replied quickly.
Isaac snickered,"Okay let me get this straight, no one kind of kissed you?"
"Yeah."
Isaac nodded,"Okay, so if Kerri kissed you find out how you feel about her because she obviously likes you."
"Okay." Zac answered,"Hey! How'd you know it was Kerri?"
"Just a shot in the dark, and plus, she is your only friend who is a girl." Isaac told him.
"No! She's not my only friend who is a girl!" Zac exclaimed.
"Who else then?" Ike asked.
"Erica is my friend." Zac said.
Isaac laughed,"Zac, I doubt you're kissing Taylor's girlfriend."
"Whose kissing Taylor's girlfriend?" Taylor asked walking into the room.
"No one." Zac said.
"Zac." Isaac said.
Taylor glanced from Zac to Isaac and then smiled,"Yeah right." he said snickering.
"Hey!" Zac exclaimed.
"Sorry Zac, it's just that Erica wouldn't kiss you." Taylor said.
Isaac jumped in,"But she'll kiss you Tay? Yeah that shows a lack of taste."
Zac laughed.
"Well," Taylor stammered,"she wouldn't kiss Zac." he repeated.
"We'll see." Zac muttered.
"Huh?" Tay asked.
"I said gotta pee." Zac said leaving the room.
Taylor watched him leave and then looked at Ike,"Who'd he kiss?"
"No one kind of kissed him." Ike said smirking.
"Oh Kerri. Yeah she's a cute kid."
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