"Dude, what's up with your cousin coming in and wrecking the party last night?" Mike asked.
Erica sighed,"I don't know, she's just a bitch with a shady past."
Mike laughed and put his feet up on the coffee table,"I'll say."
Erica studied her nails,"I have to call Taylor." she mumbled aloud.
"He's not home." Mike stated in a bored voice as he slipped his pants zipper up and down to a made-up rythem.
"How do you know?" she asked staring at him,"And what are you doing?"
Mike gave her a goofy grin,"I'm playing the zipper." he snickered.
She rolled her eyes,"Anyway, how do you know he's not home?"
"I saw him leaving his house this afternoon with Samantha." he said blowing a spit bubble.
"Yeah right. He couldn't stand her last night." she said trying to shrug it off.
Mike slipped his shoe on and off,"Well, I saw them together."
Erica sighed and picked up the phone,"I guess I'll just have to call and prove you're lying."
He shrugged,"You can call, but he won't be there."
Erica quickly dialed the phone number. She waited for Taylor to pick up. He had to be there, he just had to.
"Wassup?" Zac answered the phone.
"Zac, it's Erica. Can you get Tay for me please?" she asked twisting the phone cord around her finger.
"He went to the park awhile ago." Zac informed her.
Erica's breath caught in her throat,"Alone right?" she asked nervously.
"No actually. He went with some girl, Sally or something." he said unsurly.
"Samantha?" Erica whispered.
Zac smiled on the other side of the phone,"Yeah that's it! That girl's a ditz if I ever saw one!"
"Yeah." she agreed quietly.
"Oh, well I don't know what time he'll be back but, maybe you should just go down to the park and get him." Zac offered.
"I think I just might do that Zac." she replied.
Taylor kicked a rock. How the hell did Samantha find out where he lived and then have the nerve to tell him that she knew something about Erica? And why did she have to drag him to the damn park to tell him?
What if Erica is trying to call me to apologize? he thought, And I'm stuck here with the dumbest girl on the face of the Earth.
"Come on Taylor, let's go sit on that bench over there." Samantha said grabbing his hand.
Taylor pulled his hand away,"Fine, just tell me that really important thing about Erica that worried you."
Samantha sat down,"Okay. I'm worried because she's going to hate me."
Taylor sat down next to her,"Why would anyone hate you?" he asked coldly and sarcastically. He couldn't believe that she had dragged him out of his house and away from the phone for this.
Samanthat sqeezed out a few tears,"Everybody hates me." she put her head down and her hair fell down so that it was hiding her face.
Taylor sighed,"Everybody doesn't hate you."
Samantha didn't answer and her shoulders shook as she cried.
Taylor's eyes scanned the park to see if anyone was watching them and then he looked at Samantha,"Stop crying!" he whispered harshly.
She didn't.
Taylor reached out his hand and uneasily placed it on her shoulder,"There, there." he said awkwardly.
Samantha took that as an invitation to throw her body against Taylor's and cry into his neck. Taylor sat there for a minute not sure whether to put his arms around her and try to get her to stop crying or to push her away and ask her what the hell she thought this was. What kind of friends did Erica make at this school? he thought to himself before putting his arms around her so lightly that he was barely touching her.
"She's gonna hate me." Samantha cried.
"Why?" Taylor asked calmly. He wanted it to seem like he actually cared. He did a good job too, he almost fooled himself. Almost.
"Becuase I have feelings for you." she said quietly and pulling back to look in his eyes.
Is this girl for real? he thought. He sat there, staring back at her, too stunned to move.
She quickly pressed her lips onto his.
Erica's heart sank and her stomach flip-flopped. He was kissing Samantha. She ducked back behind the tree. He was kissing her. She saw it with her own eyes. His lips were touching hers. Hot tears stung her eyes. She felt like a fool. He didn't hate Samantha, he was kissing her. Her heart tightened as if someone reached inside her chest and squeezed every emotion out of her. She went numb as she began to run away. She ran away from the tree and the park. She ran away from Taylor and Samantha and the visions of their lips pressed together. She ran away from everything she had.
Her feet pounded on the sidewalk, the sound was echoing through her with every step. She wouldn't cry. She ran away, almost as if running could take her away from herself. As if she coud outrun all of the pictures that filled her mind and the pain that now filled her heart.
Taylor pulled away,"What the hell was that?" he demanded angrily.
Samantha looked at him confused,"I thought you wanted...you were practically begging for me to kiss you."
Tayalor jumped up,"What? You're insane!" he cried bewildered.
"But I thought you'd want to be my boyfriend now." she said staring at him.
"No way, I pity the guy that wants to be your boyfriend," he said making a disgusted face,"besides I have a girlfriend. Her name is Erica."
"But Taylor, I've got do much more to offer you." she said standing up and grabbing his hand.
He pulled his hand away and took a step back,"What part of no don't you understand? The 'N' or the 'O'?"
Samantha frowned,"Taylor honey, don't be so crude."
Taylor threw his hand up,"Do you have any idea what you're doing with my life?"
"What I'm doing?" Samantha asked in disbelief,"I think you mean Mike."
Taylor balled his hands into fists,"You make no sense." he growled.
Samantha crossed her arms,"Go and ask Erica what happened between her and Mike the other night. I think you'll get an interesting answer."
I will not cry, she thought, curled up in a fetal position on her bed with her carebear. She closed her eyes, his lips were on hers. The lips that used to kiss her so gently and full of meaning were on her skanky lips. His hands and arms that touched her softly and held her close were on her slutty body. Her eyes fluttered open.
How could he do this to me? Why with her? Why...
Someone knocked on the door.
Erica bolted up,"Please be Stacie." she mumbled to herself as she climbed off of the bed. She needed comfort and reassurance now. She carried her body, weighed down by sadness and depression down the stairs and to the door. She pulled the door open. Taylor stood on her front doorstep. She froze.
Taylor shifted,"Can we talk? We need to talk."
She bit her bottom lip and stared at him. His lips were on Samantha's. He was so close to her yet now, more than ever, he seemed so far away.
"Erica, let me in so we can talk." he repeated.
She swallowed hard. Maybe if she didn't let him in the inevitable wouldn't happen. If she could freeze the moment it would all be okay, She wouldn't have to feel the unbearable pain that had built up in her heart, waiting to explode. All the pain...tears fell silently down her cheeks. She didn't move, she didn't tremble, they just ran down her face.
"Erica, what's wrong?" Taylor asked wrapping her up in his arms.
His arms. The arms that were holding Samantha. She wanted to scream and push him away. He wasn't hers. It was like he was contaminated now. Poisonous and deadly to all of her emotions,"I saw you." she whispered.
Taylor pulled back,"Saw me what?" he asked pushing tears off of her cheeks.
She stood motionless. If she said the words she acknowledged it. She acknowledged that the kiss ever took place and that the space between them was now larger than a couple of states a few times a year. This space couldn't be crossed. If she said it, it was over,"I saw you kiss her."
Taylor froze,"Kiss who?"
"Don't play stupid," she scolded turning away from him,"it just happened ten minutes ago." she started to slam the front door.
He caught it with his hand,"Well you kissed Mike." he said.
She stared at him wide-eyed. How the hell had he found out? No one but her and Mike knew,"Who told you that?"
Taylor shook his head,"It doesn't matter because you still did it."
The truth actually was, he had guessed. He didn't know if it was true or not but, she didn't deny it. She had kissed Mike.
"How could you kiss..." he started.
She walked away from the door,"Don't even." she said angrily.
He stepped inside her house and followed her as she ascended the stairs,"How could you kiss Mike?" he asked.
She answered his question with a question,"How could you kiss Samantha?"
"I didn't kiss her, she kissed me." he said defiantly.
She stopped in the middle of the hall and turned around,"It takes two people to kiss and one of those people was you!" she said poking him.
"Well what about you?" he asked.
"What about me?" she asked walking into her room.
"You kissed Mike! How do you think that makes me feel?" Taylor yelled.
"How you feel?" she cried in disbelief,"You didn't see it! I watched you kiss her! I stood there with my heart on the floor while you jumped on it! So you, Taylor Hanson, are the last one to be talking about the pain you feel!"
"But I had to hear about it from someone else!" he yelled back,"You couldn't even be honest and tell me what happened!"
She rolled her eyes,"Oh yeah, be honest with you so you could have blown up at me like you're doing now?"
"Well what do you want from me Erica?" he yelled.
"What do you want from me?" she said back. Her eyes catching his and locking them in a stare.
Taylor looked away,"Well if we don't know what we want with each other then maybe we should just break up!" he exclaimed crossing his arms.
The inevitable,"Fine!" Erica yelled back.
"I'll see ya around." he muttered as he walked out of her room and slammed her bedroom door behind him.
She threw a pillow at the closed door,"Ugh, jerk!" she tried to yell in anger, but it came out more in pain. She threw herself onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow trying to stop the tears that already rolling down her cheeks. She let him walk out that door.
Taylor stood leaned up against the wall in the hallway. He could hear her crying through the door. It was a little reminder of the first time that they had seriously broken up. They had no more chances. Why'd he let these thing fly out of his mouth? He felt tears roll down his cheeks and onto his neck. He wiped at them with his arm. It all changed now. The second he walked out of her room it all changed. He wasn't even sure why he started crying. Maybe because he realized that their transition from couple back to freinship might be impossible.
Back
Back Home
Go To Chapter 37