"Yeah..uh huh..I just got back, he took the cast off!" I told Isaac. I was commanded to call them as soon as I got back from the doctors, two weeks later. This was actually the first time I've seen/talked to them since I hurt my leg. They were shipped off to Europe for two weeks to do alot of interviews, photo shoots, and live shows. Promotional stuff, you know how it is! Isaac sighed with relief into the phone. "Atleast you got it off before your birthday!" he laughed. I fell silent, listening to the bickering in the background. "Is that Tay?" I asked, walking toward my bedroom window. I looked out of the it, and my eyes fell right no the Hanson house. They lived down my street about 3 houses. We had a clear view of each other. I remembered, then, how I used to live in the pink house right next door, but when my dad married Moreen., she wanted a bigger house...so here I am. "Yeah...he just got back from soccer practice. Here he is!" Isaac said roughly, while I heard Taylor pull the phone from his brother. "Hello?" he said, not sounding as if he knew it was me. I smiled. "How did practice go?" I asked, looking down at my ankle. Taylor sighed. "Not well..we have a game tomorrow, and everyone was telling me how coach has been lecturing them about being more like YOU! Uh!" Tay said, probably rolling his eyes. I opened my window and stuck my head out. I saw Taylor run up the stairs and into his room. "Hey!" he yelled from his open window. I pulled the phone from my ear, he was so loud. "I bet you got aggravated with Coach huh?" I asked, waving to him. He smiled and his hair blew over his face. I smiled. I always knew he was gorgeous, but I didn't let my hormones rule my heart. "Oh yeah..he just went on and on and on..gee!" he moaned. "Hey, wanna hang out?" he asked. I smiled, closed my window, and skipped down the stairs plopping myself on the front porch steps. Tay had taken that for a yes, hung up the phone and ran over. Me, being a moron was still holding the phone. I turned it off and stood up. "Moreen and daddy have been out for days, they should be back late Wednesday night!" I said, pulling Tay inside the house. He made himself comfortable on my couch, as I handed him a bottle of water. He smiled thankfully and took a large sip. "Will they be home for your birthday?" he asked. I twisted my lips to one side, and slid down on the couch, resting my head on a pillow. "Well...I don't think so. They'll be back on Wednesday. But then on Friday their leaving to go to Vermont...I think they forgot about me!" I replied, almost to sadly for my own good. He handed me his water and I took a sip. "Of course the didn't! Who could forget someone who was born on Valentine's Day?" he said. I smiled brightly and took another sip of water. Taylor reached his hand around my arm and pulled his bottle back. Nodding his head as a sarcastic thank you. "Their going to Vermont for a week as a VALENTINE'S DAY vacation!" I replied, sitting up. Tay wrapped his arm around me. "Ever since Moreen came into the picture last year..they have forgotten all about me! They even forgot to be home for Christmas Eve..remember that?" I said. Taylor squeezed my arm tightly and leaned against me. He knew I wasn't feeling very good right now. "How could I forget! You shoved cheese cake in Zac's face, and got Jessica to accidentally spill grape juice on Isaac's brand new silk shirt!" he laughed and started to feel uncomfortable. I pulled away from his half hug and moved a few inches away from him. He smiled. "That was the best Christmas Party I've ever been too!" I laughed. We sat in silence for a few moments remembering that night, when the phone rang. For some reason, I jumped. "Yo?" I said, picking up the phone. Taylor sat next to me, sipping his water silently. "Amanda?" a familar voice asked. "It's me, Kristi!" "OH MY GOD!" I screamed, jumping off the couch. Taylor looked at me weirdly, his eyebrow arched. He stood up and leaned next to the phone, like he always did. His breathing I could have heard, if I wasn't screaming. "WOW! I haven't talked to you in 3 months...where have you been?" I asked. My heart felt as if it was beating out of my chest. I could of sworen Tay heard it. Kristi and I were best friends when we were young., but when I moved we broke the Best Friend code and stayed close. We were actually born almost on the same day. Except her mom went into a long labor and she was born at 12:07pm, on Valentine's Day night..making her birthday on the 15th. "We'll..I've been in Canada with my mom. And I have THE greatest news. Mom said that..since we have relatives in Oklahoma City, I can spend the night with them and the rest of the week with you!" she squealed. I took a deep breath and looked at Taylor. He smiled at me and waited patently. I knew he couldn't hear who was on the line, because I had the volume on low. "NO WAY!" I wanted to scream, but I didn't feel like turning Taylor into a deaf singer anytime soon. "When?" I asked. Kristi took a deep breath herself and smiled. "This week..well we'll b arriving Wednesday morning, but I won't be able to be with you until Thursday!" she squealed. I heard some static slice throught the phone connection for a brief second, then it stopped. "Dad will be so happy to see you. I'm sure he'll let you stay here..it's not like he's going to be here anyway!" I said, tears forming in my eyes. Taylor looked at me, and touched my wrist, his fingertips just grazing my hand. Kristi was silent for a moment, but then spoke. "What do you mean?" she asked. I dropped down onto the couch. "Daddy and Moreen are going on a Valentine's Day vacation..which means they forgot my birthday, again!" I wiped a tear away from my eye. I hated to cry, but it had to happen sooner or later. Kristi sighed. "Listen girl it's okay.., is Tay with you?" she asked, almost instinctively knowing he was here. I nodded. "Yeah..hold on!" I said, handing Tay the phone. He took the phone with his right hand, and raised an eyebrow. "Hello?" he asked. I could tell Kristi was talking, because his eyebrow fell and he smiled, almost to happily. "OKay, nice to talk to you again Kristi. I'll get it done before you can say MMMBOP!" he joked. "Alright, see you Thursday. Bye!" he said, hanging up the phone. I shoved him. "You bearly ever use MMMBOP in a sentence, unless your up to something!" I paused. "Tay what are you doing?" I urged. He smiled at me and crossed his arms in front of his chest, shaking his head. "I'm not saying a word!" Taylor said and we stood up. "Wanna play Mortal Kombat?" I asked, pulling him toward the stairs, that led up to my part of the house. "I got this new part that you can hook up to the game, and it let's you play with more then 3 players.!" I added. Taylor smiled and followed me upstairs. After an hour of non-stop Mortal Kombat, we were lying on my bed resting. "I can't believe you actually beat me!" I said. Taylor smiled and flopped onto his belly. I handed him the TV changer and he turned the TV off. The room fell silent. I felt alittle weird about being so close to him, especially on my bed. "Um..now what?" I asked, propping myself up alittle. He smiled at me and rested his head on my pillow. "I can't believe you can get so tired from playing Nintendo 64!" he said, closing his eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut, because they seemed blurry. Video games always did that to me! I turned over onto my stomach and looked at him. His hair was stuck to his face and his lips were deep pink, while his cheeks were flushed. Taylor opened his eyes, knowing I was staring at him. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" he said, pushing some hair behind his ear. I shrugged, lying. "No reason, you just looked different!" I said. Taylor closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip. "You do too. You never used to wear make-up..and now you are? Who are you trying to impress?" he asked. I looked at him oddly. His eyes flew open and he picked his head up. "It's not Ben, is it? You know how he is..he is definitely not your type!" he said. I looked at him, a blank look on my face. "Ben? Not my type? Tay are you jealous?!" I said, teasing him. I don't think he knew it, because two wrinkles formed on his forhead. "It is Ben, isn't it?" he stated. I shook my head. "NO! I was teasing you!" I said. "Wait!" I thought for a second. "I'm not allowed to have crushes on any of your friends?" I asked. Taylor's wrinkles went away and he searched me up and down. "I don't know..it's just so weird!" he said, laying back down. I closed my eyes and turned my head toward him. "Weird." I whispered. Minutes later, I found myself half in sleep, half not. I wanted to know why he doesn't want me to date his friends. Am I not pretty enough for them? Or does he.. My thoughts trailed off as some one knocked on my bedroom door. I opened one eye and saw Tay was sleeping comfortably next to me. Being too tired, I closed my eyes and waited for someone to knock again. Two seconds later a louder knock came, and someone opened the door. I shivered for a second, and pretended to be sleeping. Who could that be? I asked myself. I felt the bed tilt on Taylor's side, and I opened my eyes. "Who's there?" I whispered, clearing my voice a second later. "Baby...it's me, Dad." My father said. I propped myself up. "Dad?.." I paused, noticing the look on his face, "what's wrong?" I asked, just then realizing how closely me and Tay were laying together. My father's eyes were angry looking, as he searched Taylor and I. "Oh no..dad, it's not what you think!" I said. I quickly slid off the bed. Taylor's eyelids fluttered and he opened his eyes. "Mandie? Why are you yelling?" he asked in a husky, tired voice. He turned over to see my dad sitting beside him. Immediately he knew what was wrong. "Oh no..Mr. Maxwell, I didn't..we..we..didn't." he stumbled on his words and quickly jumped off of the bed. Standing next to each other, my dad's eyes searched us again. We were sweating, our clothes were wet with sweat, and my bed was messed up. All the evidense was there, but he was thinking all wrong. Dad stood up and looked around the room. "Amanda, Taylor, I would like to know what is going on here!" he said. Tay and I exchanged looks. "We were playing video games, and we fell asleep!" "I was tired from playing from video games, so we fell asleep!" Taylor and I spoke out at the same time, and looked at each other after we finished. My dad was confused. "Tay?" he said, giving Taylor the 'I trust you' look. He never gave that look to me, but right now I was too embrassassed to care. Taylor blushed. "She invited me over, we came upstairs, played video games and fell asleep." he said. My dad looked at me. "Alright." he said, "Moreem and I got a quick flight home because we heard Kristi would be spending the week with you..so we figured we'd all go out together and by her a nice birthday gift. Since she'll be 15 on Monday!" he said. I knew Kristi's mom would call dad. They always talked, more then Kristi and I did. It didn't really bother me as much as it should. My mouth fell open. "Yep. It sure is an important weekend, huh dad?" I said rudely. Tay looked at me, and stepped closer, taking my hand that was behind my back. My father gave him a look and let it pass. 'Friends can hold hands!' is what dad always said. Dad stepped close to me. "Yep. I can't wait to see Kristi, and her birthday is what makes it such an important weekend!" he said, walking out of the room, and closing the door behing him. I looked at Taylor and fell into his arms. "Why does he do that?" I cried into Taylor's shoulder. He placed his left hand on my head and the right one on my back. Taylor held me close and knew I was upset about this. "It's getting worse isn't it?" he asked softly. I looked up at him. "Ever since he married Moreen it's like I don't exist anymore. Moreen, Kristi's mom, and even Kristi come WAY before I do!" I cried. Taylor walked me over to the bed and we sat down."We used to have a huge party for friends, then one with family, and we'd always go out together!" I said. Taylor looked at down at me and kissed my forehead. I froze. What do I do? I asked myself. I was scared, and I knew it. Were friends suppose to kiss friends? I don't know. His hand left my back and went up to my cheek, drying my tears. "It'll be OKay." he whispered. "No, how could it be OKay? If dad doesn't care about me..who does? He was all I had, and now Moreen took him!" I choked, and pressed my body against Taylor's. He didn't tense up like I expected him too. "You have me! I care about you!" he said. I looked at him, shocked. I never knew he cared so much about me. I mean, we never told each other. "Really?" I asked. I was shocked, how was I suppose to place all this together? He looked at me, his eyes searched mine deeply. "Yes! I've always cared for you Amanda, you mean everything to me!" he said. I smiled at him. "Oh Tay!" I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder. "Your all I live for anymore!" I said. Taylor kissed my head and we sat, holding each other close, for what seemed to be hours!
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