Two Months Together

A Painful Goodbye

Chapter Seven:

Taylor's POV

I swiftly made my way up the stairs leading towards the porch, and knocking firmly on their door. A few minutes later, Susan answered the door with a smile.

"Oh hello there Taylor. Come in, come in.." I smiled and walked in.

"Are you looking for Claire?" She asked as we walked through the main entrance and into the kitchen.

I nodded, leaning against the marble counter. "Is she around?"

"She's actually still asleep.." What a snoozer. "But I was just going to go wake her up, cause we wanted to go to Chocolate Maven."

I cocked my head to the side in confusion. "What's that?"

She raised both her eyebrows in shock. "You've never been there?" I shook my head slowly. "It's only the best cafe slash bakery ever."

Claire was just like her mom.

Chuckling a bit at her comment towards the place, I spoke. "Well we don't come here very often.."

"You are welcome to join us if you would like. Your family too of course.."

"Um.. they have plans already.. Though I just got out of them to spend time with Claire." I informed her.

She then raised a suspicious eyebrow but then continued. Had Claire not told her about... us? "Oh okay... Why don't you go wake her up so we can get on our way." She smiled at me again before walking by and down another hallway.

Removing my sunglasses from my hair, I set them on the counter and turned to look down the opposite hallway from where she had just went. I slowly made my way down it and stopping at a door that was slightly ajar. I peeked in and saw Claire sound asleep.

A small grin came across my face as I walked in quietly and sat next to her on the bed. Trying not to jostle her. I took my hand and stroked her cheek softly, then moving to her dark brown hair. Her face was so peaceful in sleep. I didn't want to wake her but I knew I had to. She slowly stirred under my touch and her eyes blinked furiously open, focusing on me.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." I smiled.

She groaned and sat up. "Hey.. Um.. What are you doing here? In my room?"

"Your mom let me in and told me to come wake you up. She said that we're going to Chocolate Maven... Have you been there?" I asked curiously.

It looked like her mind was still on sleep mode, but she still opened her mouth to speak. "Yeah.. It's really good. We're?"

I chuckled. "Yeah. She also invited me along.."

"Oh." She turned away from my face and yawned. "Sorry.." A sleepy laugh came out of her mouth.

"How late did you stay up last night miss?" I asked, restraining myself from laughing at her tired self.

"Not late I swear! I don't know why I'm so tired.." She shook her head.

After she was dressed and ready, we got into their car and drove off. Her dad had said it would be maybe a half hour or less to get there..

"How come Jordan didn't come?" I wondered as Claire and I were sitting in the backseat, while her parents talked amongst themselves.

She took a breath in and looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Well, cause he's a lazy butt and didn't want to go out.."

I laughed lightly. "Oh I see."

Claire's POV

Taylor and I shared a huge Belgium waffle with strawberries and whipped cream topping it off, along with a small sprinkling of powdered sugar. After we ate, my mom said that we could look at all the baked goods and see if we wanted a little something for later. There were chocolate chip brownies, cookies of all kinds, fudge, cake, cheesecake, everything! I saw Taylor trying to hold himself back against all these sweets but I told him that one cookie or brownie wouldn't hurt, right? It wasn't like it was against the law or anything.

Once we removed our faces from the glass covering all the yummy goodness, we finally picked some regular chocolate chip cookies that looked too good to pass up. My dad paid afterwards; Taylor almost begging him to take his own money, but you know parents, they always say:

"Oh, no no no.. It's okay. " My dad said before turning towards the cashier.

Once we got back home, I told my mom that Taylor and I were going to take a walk. As I said that, she eyed me very weirdly.

I took his warm hand as soon as we were out of sight. He looked down at me, both eyebrows mashed into a line.

"What?" I said.

"You didn't tell her did you. Your mom?"

I looked to the side and sighed. "No.."

"Why not?" His tone still soft.

"I don't know. I just maybe think she could find out on her own.."

"What. You don't think she would be happy?"

Looking back at him, I saw that his expression had softened a bit. "No.. I don't know Taylor. It's just.. I'm not too close with my mom about talking about this kind of stuff.." I shook my head.

He said nothing after that.

The month had went by as quickly as it came. Soon, it was September 5th and I was slowly packing up my things, getting ready to head back to the airport. Taylor was sitting on my bed watching me as I opened the drawers, taking out my jeans and shorts. We were silent throughout my process, both thinking the same thing. What happens to us once we go home?

The breeze flowing through the room had me shiver at the slightest contact with my skin. I had finished packing and sat next to Taylor. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my hair softly.

"When are you leaving..." I spoke quietly.

"A little bit after you, I think."

"Oh..." I sighed to myself sadly.

"Don't worry.. We'll figure something out.. I promise." I looked up at him, though his eyes were warm, they looked unsure. He leaned down and kissed my forehead, leaving his lips there had goosebumps forming on my arms. Taylor pulled away and looked into my eyes. I stared intensely into his; not wanting to look away, until a small tear rolled over and down my cheek. I leaned my head into his chest and cried silently.

When it was time to leave, everyone met outside and said their goodbyes, hugging and shaking hands. I hugged Mrs. Lautner and she said,

"See you soon, Claire. And thank you.." Her smile warm. I smiled and nodded, then made my way over to Taylor, who was standing with his hands in his pockets. Sadness on his face...

We looked at each other for one long last minute, before he took me in his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he spun me around. Setting me down, I touched his cheek, and he pulled me in for a last passionate kiss. I would savor this for as long as I lived..

I didn't know when we would see each other again. Yes, we could call, text, and E-mail, but it wouldn't be the same. We pulled away at the same time, gathering my strength, I let go of him and made my way over to the car. My dad started it up and we drove off.

I took a look back and saw him with a tear streaming down his cheek...