It had been a week since Taylor had last seen Hallie. He was supposed to see her today and they were both going to Skate World to hang out. It was officially 1999 and Tay decided that today was the day that he would tell Hallie that he knew about her and Steven. How he was going to announce this casually, he didn't know. He just knew that he had to tell her today. Tay felt somewhat nervous about telling Hallie that he knew, even though she was the one that hurt him. It had to be said though, he couldn't stand holding it in any longer. It hurt so deeply and burned at his soul to know that Hallie was cheating on him, but could telling her that he knew hurt him more? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tay lied back on his bed and sighed, heavily. He was arranged to see Hallie today...to tell her he knew her secret.
"Can I really do this?" Tay thought. "I've liked her for so long, and telling her could blow the entire relationship."
Isaac walked into the room and shut the door, slowly. Seeing his brother lying on the bed, he reminded Taylor, "Tay, you've got to meet Hallie in like, an hour. You planning on getting dressed sooner or later?"
Tay sat up with a sad look on his face, sighing, he said, "Alright...I'll go get ready, now."
"No, wait," Isaac stopped his brother. "First, tell me what's the matter."
Suddenly, Taylor became bitter, "Nothing is wrong."
"Oh, I'm sure," said Isaac, sarcastically. Tell me, Tay. C'mon."
The look on Taylor's face showed discomfort about the subject and angered that it was even brought up.
"No, it's none of your business," Tay told his older brother, harshly.
Taylor and Isaac were best friends for life. Whenever something was wrong or upsetting them, they always told each other. It's wasn't like Tay to not express his feelings to Ike. Isaac knew that something must be deeply wrong for Taylor to act like this.
"Tay, tell me."
"It's Hallie...," Tay gave in, hesitantly.
"Hallie? What about her?" Isaac inquired, curiously. He knew if something was wrong with Hallie, it was terribly wrong. He knew his brother's feelings for her.
"Yeah...Hallie," continued Tay. "Remember when me, Brian, Mikey, and Shane went out for a Guys' Day Out?"
"Yeah...?" Ike responded, confused. "But, what does that have to do with Hallie?"
"Well, that day, we went to McDonalds for lunch. To everyone's surprise, we saw Hallie there," he explained.
"That's cool," Ike didn't see where his little brother was going with this.
"Not," added Tay. "She was there with another guy."
"Another guy? Did you know him?" asked Taylor's older brother, shocked.
"No, I didn't, but Brian did," just talking about the situation made Tay sick to his stomach. "The way she looked at him..."
Ike was pretty amazed that Tay held this secret so long, "And you are still going out with her?"
"I'm going to tell her today that I know," Tay informed Ike.
Isaac laughed, slightly as he smiled, thinking of the situation, "This ought to be a priceless moment."
"Maybe."
Tay glanced at his watch, "Well, I better go take a shower and get ready. I'll tell you how it goes, okay?"
"Okay, good luck," Ike hoped that everything would go well.
As Tay walked into the laundry room to get fresh towels, he wished just as much as Isaac, actually more, that everything would work out. The situation made him so furious, he couldn't keep his mind off it. But, what would happen when he saw Hallie? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hallie and Tay had been skating for the past two hours and all was going well. Tay was trying his best to remain his normal self. It still astonished him, though that she could do such a thing, and act so calm and familiar around him.
"Want to stop for awhile, Tay?" she smiled, casually at him.
"Sure," Tay took Hallie's hand as they walked over to the bench to sit down.
The two teenagers sat down on te bench to catch their breath. Hallie seemed awfully confident for a person who wasn't at all trustworthy, in a relationship. She seemed to have no worries at all.
"Okay," thought Tay, to himself. "That is it."
Taylor looked over at Hallie. Seeing her silkly, long blonde hair, her bright blue eyes, her beautiful smile, her perfect personality, Taylor wondered if he could really go through with this. But, he knew he had to.
Slowly, he turned and faced her, "Hallie?"
"Yes, sweetie?" she said, way too casually.
"What did you do the day that I went out with Brian, Shane, and Mikey?" Tay asked, nervously. He never thought he'd have to say something like this to Hallie.
Hallie suddenly stopped kicking her feet, in that cute way that Taylor loved, "I was home all day babysitting, why?" Taylor could literally see her lying through her teeth.
"Hal, you're lying," Tay said, flatly.
"Huh? No, I'm not. What would make you think that I'm lying?" she inquired.
Taylor couldn't even bare to look at her, anymore. As the bench got colder and colder, so did Taylor's emotions. Hallie was lying to him, and the sad part about it was, Taylor knew it. He could see it so clearly.
"Why does this have to be happening?" was all that went through Taylor's mind.
"Y-you were at McDonalds," was all that escaped from Taylor's lips.
"I don't know why you think I was, 'cause I wasn't," Hallie told him, seriously.
Taylor couldn't hold it in any longer. He had to tell her.
Nearly shouting, Tay exploded, "I saw you there!"
Hallie just stared at Tay, totally shocked. She couldn't believe he had held it in all this time. She was completely and utterly shocked. The only comfort in her mind right now, was that Taylor didn't know Steven.
A little more calm, Tay sighed, "I was there that day, and I saw you there with another guy. I don't know who he was, though."
Hallie tucked her blonde hair behind her ears, like she always did when she was nervous.
"This isn't really happening, is it?" she thought.
"Tay, I...," Hallie began.
"Hey, Hallie!" Hallie was interrupted by the voice of a boy.
She looked up and smiled weakly, "H-hi, Steven. Wassup?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tay glared at Steven. He was face-to-face with the guy who was literally taking the only girl that he ever loved, away from him.
Taylor was so outraged. The blood in his body was bubbling and his anger took over him. He wasn't going to let some pint-sized basketball player, take Hallie away from him.
Suddenly, Tay got up and jumped on top of Steven, pushing him to the ground.
"Taylor Hanson never forgets a face!" the outraged boy, exclaimed.
"Tay, stop it!" Hallie shouted.
"What gives?" Steven shoved Tay off of him.
"You took my girlfriend away from me!" Tay yelled, shoving Steven back down, as he got up.
Steven was pretty surprised to hear that, "You mean Hallie? We've been going out for two weeks, now."
The fire in Tay's eyes showed to both Hallie and Steven.
Taylor turned to Hallie, keeping an eye on Steven, "So, I guess these past two months have meant nothing to you?"
Hallie was disappointed to hear Tay say such a thing, "That's not true!"
Suddenly, Steven tripped Taylor, "Just because she doesn't love you anymore, doesn't mean you have the right to go buck wild on the both of us!"
Not getting off the ground, Tay snapped, "I've loved her since the day I met her! Since the second she stepped into my life, I knew we were a match made in Heaven! That gives me the right to go buck wild! It took me three years to work up the nerve to ask her out because I was afraid something like this would happen!"
Inside, Taylor felt like crying, but he was still overwhelmingly angry at Hallie and Steven. Hallie though, felt guilty about what she had done. She didn't realize it would hurt Taylor this much.
"Well, guess what, Taylor?" Steven got a mischeiveous look in his eyes.
"What?"
Steven grabbed Taylor by the collar of his shirt and threw his up against the wall.
Tay cringed at the impact of the the wall. Slowly, he got up.
"Steven, you've got a serious problem," Tay's anger was rejuvinated by the careless act of some stupid teenager.
Taylor pushed Steven down again, letting him hit the ground, hard. Then, pulled Steven up by the collar of his shirt, and pushed him back down, again. Then, pulling Stveen up by his shirt collar, again, flung him into the wall. As soon as Steven got to the floor, Taylor thrusted him up, twisting his arm.
"Don't you ever touch her, again or even see her, again. You hear me?" Tay stated, extremely firmly. "You'll have trouble if you do."
Taylor turned to Hallie, "Hallie..."
"Tay, wait...," she tried to say.
"...I gotta go," Tay contunued. "Call me if you want. I'm going home."
Taylor turned away from Hallie and Steven, leaving Hallie in utter shock. Tay wasn't losing Hallie. He just wouldn't. Would anything ever be the same between them, again, though?
Main Page
Chapter 16-3...2...1...Happy New Year!
Chapter 18-Here We Go 'Round Again
Tulsa's Long Road Home
