One Of The Guys

Chapter 23

*****Taylor POV again*****

Jake holds me up again. But I'm also holding him up too. The guys are just staring at us. Zach takes us into the living room. "Brother. Best friend. What is going on here?" He asks. "Mike Green." I manage to get out. "Taylor Green. Mike was the football star that died in a car accident. And you're his twin sister." Zach says, finally putting two and two together.

"We were best friends since kindergarten. Inseparable. And Taylor is-was his twin sister. So I hung out here all the time and Taylor and I became best friends, like Mike and I. When he died, Taylor and I decided to go to a different school where no one knew us. Couldn't take the stares." Jake says, not looking up.

"Wow. I can't. I don't know what to say." Zach says, eyes wide. "I was in the car. But Mike was driving. There was a drunk driver swerving in our lane. I saw his face 2 seconds before the crash. But he drove off. I guess he ditched the car somewhere because I'd never seen it before. But my dad never knew, no one did." I say, leaning into Jake.

"Did your dad know that he killed Mike?" Garrett asks. "Yeah. But he managed to sober up a lot before the police came to our house. My mom." I shut my eyes for a moment. "My mom was beyond broken. I knew Mike was her favorite. That's why she left me. I don't know where she is. But I don't care, not anymore." I say, whispering the last part.

"I can't even begin to understand what you guys went through. But I know it must've been terrible." Zach says. "What do you do now? Live here alone?" Garrett asks. "Nope. I live here too." Jake speaks up. Under normal circumstances, the guys would laugh. But this is not normal. They nod solemnly.

"So. We have to go to school because of the big game. But you guys can stay here for a while if you want." Zach says. I nod. "Yeah. I think we will." Jake says, glancing at me. "We won't tell anyone about Mike. Or any of this." Garrett says. "Thanks. Glad to know my broken life can be kept a secret." I reply, before collapsing into Jake, crying again.

He puts an arm around me. But none of the guys have ever seen me like this before, so they don't know what to do. "Umm. We're just gonna go..." Zach says. Jake must've nodded or something because pretty soon, all the guys are gone. I must've fallen asleep like that because next thing I know, Jake is pushing my hair back from my face.

"Hey." He says softly. "Hey." I say, looking up at him. Then I get up and go into the bathroom to wash my face. Jake follows me in and shuts the door. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asks quietly. "I couldn't. I couldn't tell you because your best friend died. And telling you that my dad did it, it would've made things much worse." I say, shaking my head.

I wash my face and redo my hair. Jake just keeps staring. "I get that." He says slowly. "Are you mad?" I ask. "Yes. But not at you. I'm mad at your mom for leaving you. Your dad for leaving you and killing Mike. And Mike for leaving both of us. It's just not goddamned fair, Taylor." He says, his eyes welling up.

"You think I don't know that? I've had to live like this since Mike died. Wondering if I should've told the police, if it would've made anything better." I yell at him. Then I start crying again. Geez, what's with me today? Jake walks over to me and holds me. He takes me to the edge of the bathtub where he sits and pulls me into his lap.

I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my face in his jersey, soaking it with my tears. "I love you." I say. "I love you so much. I promise I won't ever leave you." He replies, before lifting my face up and kissing me. When we pull away, I look at the clock. It's already 10:30.

"Jake. We have to go." I say. "Fuck school." He replies, causing me to laugh a little. I get up, pulling him with me and wash my face. I get most of the red and puffiness away. Then I redo my ponytail. We run downstairs and grab our bags before running out to Jake's truck. It takes us 10 minutes to get there.

When we walk into the office, we sign in and mark N/A for excuse of lateness. They give us a pass anyway and we go to our lockers. I put my stuff away, then head towards history. Jake catches up with me when I'm halfway there. "Hey. Just don't think about it, okay?" He says. "Okay." I reply. Then he grabs my hand.

I smile down at them. When we push open the door, we're met with stares. We avoid them and hand our notes to Mr. Thackeray. "Take your seats." He says. We go and sit down, Jake not letting go of my hand. It causes a lot of whispers. "Settle down. As I was saying...." He continues. But I don't listen.

I just stare out the window for the remaining time. The only ones aren't whispering are Zach, Garrett, Noah, Blaine, Ryan, Aidan, and Alex. But Alex is glaring, so that's not much better. Those are the only guys from the team in our history class, though. When the bell rings, I bolt out of the class. Pulling Jake with me.

"Slow down there." He says, panting a little when I stop around the corner. "Sorry. But the whispers and stares. And oh my god." I say, shaking my head. "Hey. It's okay. They were just staring because we were holding hands. I don't think they know about Mike." He says. "What if Alex told them?" I ask worriedly.

"If he did, then he's gonna die before he gets a chance to graduate." Jake says, glaring at Alex.

********AN*********

Hey. So I decided to update super early Monday. It's like 12:40 AM where I live. So yeah. Ummmm, vote and comment PLEASE!!!! Byeeeeee till Wednesday!!!! 😘😘