1 (jaylor) wisteria hearts and caged folk songs

chapter twenty one.

Taylor had plenty of horse riding experience and led both horses over to Joe. She was so excited.
"It's going to be fine." She smiled as Joe's eyebrows knitted together. "They're nice and gentle. I made sure that he gave you an older horse with a quiet personality." She handed Joe a helmet, and he reluctantly put it on his head.
"This is fine..." He said quietly.
"We can turn back at any time. Look, she's lovely." Taylor stroked the horse, and looked over at Joe. He'd taken a couple of steps towards her. She was proud of him. "Her name is Edda." The horse whinnied at the sound of her name, and Joe looked over at Taylor with his eyes wide. "We don't have to do this," she assured him.
"No, I want to. I'm going to." Joe proceeded to get onto the horse. He seems surprised that Edda didn't throw him off of her the moment he touched her.
"Good job!" Taylor exclaimed, putting on her own helmet. "See, you did it!" She was so happy that he was giving this a go.

"Are you sure that doing that isn't going to make her mad..." Joe said as Taylor tried to convince him to get her to trot faster.
"She isn't going to throw you off." Taylor assured him. "But if you don't want to we don't have to!"
Joe was giving everything a go, and Taylor was so proud that he was actually doing it. She smiled as they rode together.

"That was terrifying," Joe said as he got off the horse, "but I will admit that it was fun, too." They'd had such a lovely time together. Joe actually did very well, and Taylor wrapped her arms around him. They'd taken several photos on their way back - mostly so that Joe could show his brothers that he'd been on a horse. Taylor was so happy that they'd been doing so many firsts together. She hoped that there'd be a lot more together in the future.
When they got back into the car, Joe turned to look over at her.
"You know, I wouldn't have done that with anyone else. I don't think that there would be another person on this earth that could somehow convince me to go horse riding." He admitted with a smile. He took her hand, and squeezed it. It was a cold day, but his hands were so warm. His eyes were summer, an oasis that she wanted all to herself.

They had a long drive home, and they were blasting songs in the car. They'd put together a playlist of all of their favourite songs for them to play while driving. Taylor was driving them home, she felt bad because Joe had been driving her everywhere and she wanted to give him the chance to take in the sights from the passenger seat.
Yellow by Coldplay started playing. This was one of Joe's all time favourites, and when he heard it, he turned to her with a smile.
"You know what?" He asked her softly.
"What?" Taylor glanced at him quickly with a smile.
"You're my yellow."
She felt her heart flutter. She felt it explode into a thousand different fireflies. If they weren't driving, she would have flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.
"I love you so much," Taylor told him, her voice shaking. "You're my yellow, too. It's kind of funny... when you think of the connection between yellow, and gold, and daylight." She couldn't believe that it was even possible to feel this in love with a person. She didn't realise that this is what love was supposed to feel like. It set her on fire. She'd burn for him. She'd set herself ablaze for him. She'd hold a candle for him until her arm ached if it meant that he'd never see darkness again.

The night slipped away, and they had planned to make homemade pizza together. Taylor was getting changed in the bedroom, and Joe was pouring the wine. Taylor looked at her body in the mirror, the way that her ribs didn't stick out so much, the way that she'd gained curves in places where she hadn't had them before. She couldn't tell whether she liked it. She knew that she should. But she was looking better now. She was healthier. She had this glow about her that she'd never had before. She liked that glow. She studied her body, the way that the bruises on her stomach had almost completely faded, the way that the bruise on her neck had dissolved into nothing. Soon there wouldn't be a trace of Adam on her. Her arm was looking good too. Some of the scars had turned white, fading slightly. She knew that they'd never really leave, but Taylor hoped that they'd heal to the point where she was able to forget they are there.