“Of course I know what I’m doing, how could you doubt me Brenda?” he said grinning.

“OK, you just be careful, no fooling around” she said slyly and Tay and I looked at each other uncomfortably, we both knew what she meant.

Earlier on she’d embarrassed us both by asking us if we were going out. When we’d said no, she’d told us to quit flirting in front of her because it was making her jealous. I cringed at the memory. Tay and I both say goodbye to her and he wheeled me along the long halls of the private hospital.
After about 5 minutes of silence, we exited the elevator and I was wheeled out of the huge electronic doors and into the beautiful gardens of one of Tulsa’s many private hospitals. We made small talk until we found some shade to escape the hot sun and Tay carefully lowered himself onto the soft grass.

“Ahh, that’s better” >he said when he was settled against a tree.

I fiddled with the ring on my finger. For the first time ever, neither one of us knew what to say.

“Tally”

“Tay” We both said it at the exact same moment and it caused us both to giggle.

“You go first” I said.

“No, you” he said back.

“Oh, OK” I replied and I looked at him.

His big blue eyes stared right on back at me and I shuddered. He was so beautiful.

“Look, about that stuff Brenda said before, can we stop being so stupid about it, we have barely talked since she said it and it’s such a stupid thing to get so messed up about isn’t it?”

“You know that was exactly the same thing I was going to say!”

he said laughing and I smiled, he was so cute when he smiled. I had to stop thinking like that though, because soon he would be gone, I would be off to a foster family, and we would never see each other again...I sighed as I flicked my long hair over my shoulder and let some strands stay in my fingers so I could study it. Tay sat thoughtfully looking at the sky and I looked at my hair unsure on what to say next. The ends on my amazingly long, brown hair was splitting and was in desperate need of a cut and the streaks were wearing off on the top. I grabbed all my hair and started pulling it up on top of my head, leaving it in a feral-looking bun on the top of my hair.

“How do you do that without a hair tie?” he asked.

“I dunno, it just does it” I replied and he began studying his hair.

“Man I need a hair cut”

“I think it looks very nice how it is short...I didn't like it much when it was long...” I told him matter-of-factly.

“Didn't you? Well actually, either did I, t's way better now it's shorter I think”

“Yep” I told him nodding and he smiled.

“Come sit here”

I ordered him and I pointed to the grass right in front of me. He slowly slid over to the spot and looked at me.

“Turn around”

“Aye aye Captain Tally!”

he saluted and I smiled. I loved my nickname! He swiveled around and I looked at his hair. I started playing with it and he flinched as I untangled a knot in at the ends of his hair. “Sorry if that hurt ya hun, but ya know what?”

“What?”

“You have got to have THE nicest hair I have EVER seen” I told him and he turned his head so he was looking at me.

“Oh, well...thankyou. I don't pay that much attention to it, but a compliment from you rocks" he said and he turned back around. I continued playing with his hair and we chatted about anything and everything for ages.

“Where are you going to live when you leave the hospital?”

“Well, I actually have no idea, whatever foster home they shove me in”

“That doesn’t sound too good, but you know, I’ve been thinking…”

“You, thinking? Ha! That’ll be the day!” I said smiling.

“Hey, you shutup!” he said with a huge grin on his face.

“Anyway, there’s this family we know, they’re always fostering kids, they’d probably be more than happy to have you, I have no idea WHY they’d want you, but we can always try” he said trying not to laugh.

I gave him a swift hit across the head and laughed at his facial expressions.

“Hey!” Then we both turned serious. “You really think they’d take me?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Maybe because I’m a total pain in the ass?”

“No you’re not”

“Yeah I am!”

“You’re not, trust me”

“My Dad didn’t seem to think that, he always said I was more trouble than I’m worth”

“Yeah, well, why would you believe him after he did this to you?”

“Yeah, I suppose”

“And anyway, I’ve been with you for almost 2 weeks, I would tell you if you were a pain in the ass and you most definitely aren't!” he said and I smiled.

He was so sweet! After a few moments, I broke the silence.

“You know Taylor, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stay sane if it weren’t for you these past weeks”

“Really? I’d like to the same about you, but…” he said smiling.

“Thanks a lot!”

I cried and I buried my head in my hands and pretended to cry. He giggled so I looked up and laughed. After a further hour of chatting and occasionally walking around the gardens, we decided to head inside. We were way over out time limit and it was getting colder and darker by the minute. When we arrived back inside, Brenda bombarded us with bad news after bad news.

Number #1
Tay would actually be going home in 2 days.

Number #2
My Dad had been in court for abuse and been found guilty and was being sentenced to jail in a week...I didn't want him in jail...

Number #3
I would be in here for a further week and a half yet because they still said my head injuries were a bit off and finally,

Number #4
Hanson’s world tour had been put back a month and now the ticket sales had gone downhill. Mr Hanson called in and renewed the bad news about the World Tour and Tay tried to act happy about going home. When Mr Hanson left, Mrs Hanson and the rest of the family called in for 5 minutes before having to rush along again and it wasn’t until then that Tay and I were finally about to talk.

“I’m trying to be happy about going home, and I am, I’m ecstatic, but I don’t wanna leave you here by yourself!” he told me when everyone had left.

“I know, I don’t want to stay here by myself!” I said back.

“I told to give the Jacob’s a call and he said he’s try to organize it tonight”
“Oh, cool! I can live close to you, I bet you can’t wait!” I said rolling my eyes.

“I know, it’ll be great” “I was being sarcastic”

“Well I wasn’t”

“Sure”

“What is it with you, do you think I don’t like you or something, you're always so damn negative and sarcastic!” he said and I shrugged.

“I do ya know” I didn’t say anything.

“God woman! I do OK, you’re like, the only person I could call my best friend after only knowing them a couple of weeks”

I smiled proudly, but even though I would never say anything, I wanted more than that. I knew it would wreck our friendship, but it was something I couldn’t help.

“OK, I believe you, the reason you’re MY best friend is because you’re my ONLY friend” I looked at the ground.

Tay climbed out of his bed and I moved over so he could sit in my bed under the covers with me. We sat up and got comfortable.

“You must have other friends, you met Zac for 10 minutes and he’s like, in love with you or something, that’s what he told Ike anyway, he’s got a crush on you or some shit like that”

“Really?” I asked uncertainly.

“Really” he confirmed and I smiled.

“You made friends with me straight away and all my family think that you’re cool, how can you not have friends?”

“One : my Dad, Two : my Dad, and Three : oh, I'd have to say my Dad”

“Oh, why's that? Besides the obvious of course”

“Well I was never allowed to see anyone after school and the amounts of times I was moved from school to school I never had time to come close to actually making a friend of my own.”

I paused and noticed Taylor staring at me thoughtfully. I smiled sadly before continuing with my story.

“One time I actually made a friend, Grace, she came over one day after school when Dad was at the pub, and he came over early. He chased her out of the house telling her he’d kick her ass to Timbuktoo or something stupid like that if she ever came over again, and then he started on me and threw me down the stairs because he thought she might go through the house and find all his drugs and everything”

“You’re kidding?”

“I wouldn't joke about something like that ya know...I’ve never had a friend since, Grace told everyone at school and they were all scared of me cause they thought I’d get Dad onto them or something”

“That must’ve been pretty bad”

“Yep, my life has sucked ever since Mom died”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you didn’t have a Mom”

“Yeah, she got drunk one night and rammed into a pole, died from massive head injuries the next day”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but maybe this was for the better, not the injuries, but you getting out of there and moving and stuff”

“Yeah, I suppose so, I might actually be able to have a life”

“What do you mean, I thought you would’ve been able to do anything you wanted if he was always drunk”

“Nope, he always knew where I was. I was like his servant, I was never allowed to leave his sight. I was like a barmaid when all his drunk friends gave over for their weekly poker game”

Tay sat in silence obviously in shock now he was finding out the real story.

“I’ve never been invited to a party, I’ve never had a boyfriend, I’ve never done anything except supposedly wreck his life and live most of my life in hospitals. One night he beat me because he thought I was hitting on one of his friends!”

“Huh?” “This guy, Luke, he’s about 35 or something, my Dad’s age, and he was drunk. Anyway, I was serving them all their beers and he slapped me on the ass. I turned around and slapped him back, on the arm, and Dad considered this flirting”

“Huh?!?”

“Dad was too drunk to know what I was doing, he though I’d slapped Luke back on the ass, so he locked me in the closet for about 2 hours while they played their poker. He came and gave me a drink then locked it again and I heard him fall asleep on the bed so I was locked in there all night until he woke up and I screamed at him to let me out. All he did was unlocked the door, looked at me, then left the house and spent the rest of the day at the pub”

“Well, sorry, I hate to speak my mind…but your Dad is a fucking asshole Tally” he said and I smiled sadly.

“You haven’t seen anything”

“I’ve seen what he’s done to you know, that’s the worse isn’t it? He put you in a damn coma for a week, so I’d definitely say that’s the worst”

“Hmm” I was tired.

“I’ll let you get some rest” Tay said reading my mind.

“Thanks Tay, for everything, you’re a sweetie” I said and I pecked him on the cheek.

“Thanks, you ain’t that bad yourself you know”

“Now, can I have a hug?”

“Sure” he replied and he leant over and we embraced in a long hug that I never wanted to end.

When it did end a minute later, I smiled at him sadly and he left and climbed into his own bed.

“Goodnight Taylor”

“Night Tally” he replied and after he got out of his bed and switched the light off, I turned over and shut my eyes. No matter what I did though, sleep wouldn’t come. My breathing got heavier and it must’ve sounded like I was asleep. I was startled by Taylor’s voice quite a while later.

“I love you Tally” I almost screamed with joy, but I silently turned onto my side and shut my eyes. I fell to sleep finally with pure bliss pumping itself though my vains.