Stole My Heart

64. If Only...

Taylen didn't end up spanking me again the next day, thankfully. I was amazingly uncomfortable all day during the competitions. It didn't stop me from radiating pride when our cheer squad won 1st place. Taylen was ecstatic and I was really happy for her. The cheerleaders weren't the only ones winning.  We were well on our way to making it to the basketball state tournament for 1A schools. We had made it through districts so up next was the semi-finals.

We had loaded the buses and left school at 9. Our game started at noon and it was an hour away. The cheer bus left at the same time as we did and they followed behind us the whole way there. We were allowed to warm up on the court for a bit while the cheerleaders practiced in the lobby. We ran through plays and shot around for half an hour. We went back into the locker room and Dad gave the before game speech. He stressed how much we needed to win. The team we were playing was a relatively easy team to oppose. They were good enough to make it to the semi-finals but that would be as far as they would go. This would be an easy win for us.

As I predicted, we won. The final score was 63-34. I played a lot of the game since Dad lets the lower ranked players play in easier games. We got back to the school at 3:30. Taylen and I were going to go out for an early Valentine's day dinner. Valentine's day landed on a Friday and she was taking the opportunity to turn it into a cute couple dance. It wouldn't start until 8, so people had time to go out and eat before it. She would spend the time getting everything set up and I would be there to help her. Rather than this one being held in the cafeteria like we have been doing them, she snagged the gym for the night.

We were going to the restaurant we went to for our first date. I think about it a lot. It seems like forever ago.

Taylen decided that we had enough time for us to go home and shower before we went. She invited me over to her house to do so, but I declined. I was missing my mom and I wanted to see her before going out. More than likely, I would end up at Tay's for the night. I drove home still feeling the high of winning. I stunk and was ready to take a shower. I got home and hugged Mom. Dad and the triplets left before I did and they were already showered. I went upstairs and took a long shower.

I got dressed in my nice jeans and gray and black Nike pullover. I walked down the stairs and sat beside Mom on the couch. She pulled me close and kissed my temple. I soaked up all the motherly affection, craving it. It wasn't like I hadn't been seeing her or anything. She just made me feel like everything was going to be ok and it was comforting. I planned to tell Tay about the whole Savannah ordeal after the dance on Friday. I didn't want to put her in a position where she would have to pretend to be fine in front of people. I really wished I would have just told her when it happened. It did make me feel better that Mom knew. She was disappointed, sure, but she forgave me easily. I could only hope it was going to be that way with Taylen.

I left my house at 5:43. I listened to my good feeling playlist the whole way there. Julie and Carter were sitting in the rocking chair on their porch when I pulled up. Julie greeted me excitedly and Carter nodded his head. Jason was at the dining table when I walked in. He said hi and told me Tay was upstairs. I walked up and she had just put down her curling iron.

"Hey Petey," she kissed my cheek and went into her closet to put clothes on.

I jumped on her bed stomach first. I was on my phone playing my farm game when Tay slapped my ass, hard.

"Ow," I complained, turning around and sitting up.

Taylen was laughing and I took the opportunity to tickle her mercilessly. She was bucking around and trying to get away. We tired out after a minute of intense tickle war and I stopped. Her mascara had run from laughing so hard she cried. I hoped that it would be the only reason her makeup ever ran. I helped her clean it off and then we left. On the way to the restaurant, we talked about the game and the dance. I was impressed by her understanding of basketball, since she had never played. She informed me that since there was a cute boy who played on the team, she was actually paying attention to the game. We discussed some of the crappy calls the refs made. She told me the theme of the Valentine's dance was going to be 'dripping in luxury'. She had ordered lots of silver decorations that sparkled but looked classy.