Section Eleven

     Zac arrived at Trevor’s house to find that there were no cars in the driveway. More than likely Trevor’s parents were at work and Trevor was either home or at a friend’s. Zac walked up to the door and knocked. A few seconds later, Trevor answered the door. "Hey, Zac!" he said cheerily.
     Zac grabbed Trevor by the collar and pushed him into the house, he slammed the door behind him. "Don’t ‘hey, Zac’ me," he snarled.
     "Hey, man, what’s wrong with you?" Trevor said, his voice took on a high pitch. He tried to wrench his collar from Zac’s grip.
     Zac pushed Trevor down onto his couch. "What gives you the right to lay your hands on her any way you please?" he asked sinisterly.
     Suddenly Trevor’s attitude changed. "So, she told you, huh?" he asked snidely.
     "Yes, she told me, Trevor. And boy am I glad she did, cuz it makes me realize how much a rat you are." Zac took a deep breath; he was trying to keep his cool.
     "Ha, I don’t care, Zac. She let all those things happen to her and if she’d have just stopped talking to your stupid brother I never would have had a reason to hit her!" Trevor huffed and folded his arms.
     "Why don’t you just shut your mouth!" Zac yelled, his anger flared up but he was managing to keep himself under control.
     "Because I’m right!" Trevor retorted, he jumped up and stood with his face only centimeters from Zac’s.
     Zac remained eye to eye with him, "Look, Trevor, you may think you’re right, but you had absolutely no right on God’s green earth to lay your hands on her in any physical manner to hurt her. And for that reason is why I am going to punch you."
     Trevor’s eyes widened, "Wha?"
     Without answering his question verbally, Zac landed one hard left hook to Trevor’s face. The punch tossed Trevor back to the couch and flipped him over the couch.
     Trevor scrambled to his feet holding his more than likely broken nose. A little bit of blood trickled from between his fingers.
     "What was that for?" Trevor questioned angrily. His voice sounded nasally and sort of choked now.
     "For all the pure hell you put my friend through. And if I ever see you near her again, I will hurt you worse than you can ever imagine." With that, Zac composed himself and walked out the front door.

~*~

     Taylor sat almost awkwardly behind the keyboard in the garage. "What do you want me to play?" he asked Tabitha who was sitting in one of the metal fold out chairs. She shrugged.
     "Play what ever you want," she said indecisively.
     Taylor pursed his lips and thought hard. That’s when it came to him. He began to play a few notes on the keyboard.
     The tune was only half-familiar to Tabitha and she couldn’t place it until Taylor began to sing softly into the microphone.

"Well, this feeling that you’re feeling, it’s something I know you’ve felt before, when I see you I wanna hold you till the end of time and a little bit more. And I’m not gonna let go, you’ve gotta let your feelings show.
So smile, give me all your heart and we’ll never be apart
I’ll never leave you lonely.
If you’ll just smile, tell me that you care cuz I’ll always be there
I’ll never leave you hurt-"

     Seemingly from out of nowhere then, a guitar began to play. Taylor looked up to see Isaac strumming and going for the next verse. But then he winked at Taylor and smiled telling him to go ahead and sing.

"Well, this feeling, I’ve been feeling, I can feel it right now from my head to the floor. When I see you I wanna love you till the end of time and a little bit more. And I’m not gonna let go, you’ve gotta let your feelings show.
So smile, give me all your heart and we’ll never be apart
I’ll never leave you lonely.
If you’ll just smile, tell me that you care and I’ll always be there
I’ll never leave you hurt."

     And almost as immediate as the guitar came the pounding of the drums, as Zac had returned. Tabitha smiled, this was the perfect little concert.

"Got my joy all broken in two, if anyone can heal me, baby it’s you. So won’t you come and hold my hand, this world has taken me as far as it can without your
Smile, give me all your heart and we’ll never be apart
I’ll never leave you lonely.
If you’ll just smile, tell me that you care cuz I’ll always be there
I’ll never leave you hurt.
If you’ll just smile."

     The song faded out and Tabitha jumped and ran to Taylor then threw her one good arm around him. "Thank you so much, Taylor," she said happily.
     Still half-startled Taylor put his own arms around her, "You’re welcome, Tabitha." Careful not to hurt her broken arm he hugged her tightly.
     She looked up at Zac and Isaac then; they looked almost left out. With a radiant smile, Tabitha said, "Group hug, people!"
     They hugged for at least five minutes, and when they broke free Zac said, "Now, you can tell him about what really happened to your arm."
     Well, that about sucked all the joy out of the moment and Tabitha looked down at her cast sullenly.
     "What do you mean?" Taylor asked Zac.
     "Let her tell you," Zac replied.
     "What does he mean, Tabitha?" Taylor said, a concerned look donned his face.
     "I really broke my arm when Trevor pushed me down while we were in a fight over you." She sighed unhappily.
     Taylor’s face darkened, "He pushed you down?" Something like a growl escaped Taylor’s lips. "Just wait till I get my hands on that boy."
     Zac laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder, "There’s no need for that. I already took care of it," he said matter-of-factly.
     "You did?" Taylor and Tabitha asked in unison.
     Zac smiled grimly, "Yeah, Trevor won’t be hurting her ever again."
     Tabitha almost smiled, then she asked, "You didn’t hurt him too much did you?"
     Zac shook his head, "I just bloodied his nose, he’ll be fine in a day or two."
     After listening to all this, Isaac shook his head.
     "What?" Taylor asked his older brother.
     "Oh, nothing, just that you guys are hopeless." Isaac smiled. "Well, why don’t we play a few more songs? We need a good practice run anyway."
     "That sounds good," Taylor agreed. "You wanna stay and watch us?" he said turning to Tabitha.
     "Yeah, but then I have to get home," she said with a nod.
     "Cool then," Taylor replied.
     A few moments later they started playing again. Tabitha resumed her position in the chair and watched them intently, happily, her eyes on Taylor the whole time.

~*~

     He had just come back from walking Tabitha home. He hated it that she had to go. Her parents weren’t even home from work yet so it wasn’t like she had to go. But she told him there were things she had to take care of.
     He lay down in his bed listening to the IM noises from the computer as Isaac talked online and he faintly heard the music from Zac’s walkman in the bed above him. He sighed.
     He lay there for nearly an hour before he just got up and walked out of the room. Isaac looked up but only got a flash of Taylor’s back as he headed out the door.
     Taylor didn’t even bother telling his parents where he was going as he walked out of the house. He just headed to the one person he knew he could tell his heart to.

~*~

     Tabitha sat in front of the television wondering why she had decided to come home so early. Her mom and Steve weren’t home and she wouldn’t have needed to come home until they got home. Maybe she was just afraid of being around Taylor any longer that day. No, not afraid, just nervous. For some reason she wanted to kiss him but she restrained herself because she didn’t know how he would react to it. She sighed and tried to leave the subject alone as she watched an episode of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" on Comedy Central. She couldn’t though; her heart just wasn’t in it.
     She stood up and paced then remembered the one person who she could talk to.

~*~

     Taylor dropped down to his knees before his grandmother’s headstone. He read the front as he always did and said a little prayer for his grandma. Then he turned his back and leaned up against the cold granite.
     "Gram," he said softly. "I don’t know what to do … Ever since that day we met here ... Man, I feel like I’ve been head over heels for her. She’s so beautiful and I can’t stand the fact that I can’t have her. She doesn’t seem to like me as I like- well, love her. And I do. Gosh! I’m so crazy, you know that? I can’t make myself stop thinking about her when I should be doing other things, when I should be focusing on other things. It’s impossible though. And, it’s been like three almost four months since we met, and there’s not a day that goes by that she’s not on my mind. Not a night that I don’t dream about her. Everywhere I look I see her face, and all I want to do is hold her and love her. I thought she would’ve gotten the point by the song, but she didn’t. And there’s no way I can tell her how I feel about her without her laughing at me." He laughed bitterly, a way to hold back the tears in his eyes. "If she only heard me now..."

**

     Tabitha walked through the headstones until she came to her grandmother’s. She said a silent prayer as she looked down at it. She was just about to sit and lean against the headstone when she heard something...
     "If she only heard me now... She’d think I was crazy. But I know I love her, whether she loves me or not. If only she would just appear and suddenly understand how I felt about her..."
     Tabitha straightened up and headed toward the voice, it sounded so familiar. She had gone about ten paces when she saw him. He was lying against the tombstone, his eyes closed and his mouth moving a mile a minute. She crept up slowly, trying not to disturb him. When she was close enough to see him breathing, she kneeled down in front of him.
     "I just love her, Gram ... more than I’ve ever loved anyone before." At that moment, he stopped talking and squeezed his eyes shut harder than they already were. A single tear slid out and down his left cheek.
     She couldn’t take it anymore. She laid her hand against his cheek wiping the tear away.
     Taylor’s eyes shot open, and his mouth dropped nearly a mile. "Tab- ta- uh," he couldn’t get his mouth to work right.
     Tabitha shook her head. "Shh, it’s okay, Taylor. I love you too." She pulled him closer and kissed him.
     As they fell from the kiss they knew they would be together for always, forever and a day.

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