Lost In A Memory (A Taylor Lautner Story)

The REAL Break-up

Chapter 22- The REAL Break-up

            The camping trip was cancelled after that, to say the least. Olivia faked stomach cramps and claimed she’d never make it another day without her Midol. I let her lie, if only to avoid the truth… to avoid having to tell my mother why I had hurt her so.

            So with faux smiles and a tight silence, we packed everything into my mom’s car and headed back home. We got out of the car at Olivia’s, smiling and giggling, pretending like we had been all the way down the road, though we couldn’t have been more opposite. Her mother greeted my mother, shared small talk, and finally the two of us were back in the car. I let out a huge breath, feeling like it was the first in the last two hours. My mom didn’t speak, just grabbed my hand and rubbed it with her thumb for a few seconds, and then let me go in my own grief.

            It didn’t get much better. Olivia and I didn’t speak, and because we didn’t speak, Casey was out of the picture, too. It was like losing two friends with one phone call. And that wasn’t the only problem I was facing at the moment.

            My movie date with Rob was due in two days, and boy, did it seem like a burden. I told him that I would do my best to keep my emotions hidden until the day of; since he insisted that I go anyway.

            Regardless, everything felt like a burden now. Playing it up for mom and pretending that I wasn’t depressed like she used to be; acting like I didn’t care that Olivia hated me, even though it was eating me up inside; ‘playing’ excited for the movie date; and, worst of all, pretending that I didn’t miss my father.

THE MOVIE

            …was horrible. I mean, not really. It had a cute little plot and nice little sound effects. But that was it. That was as far as my affection for the thing went.

            It started when I saw him. I know Rob could feel me tense, though I tried hard to hide it. I scrunched up like a slinky and pretty much stayed that way all throughout the film. There was Taylor, in all his sexy glory, jumping and speaking and singing and being….

            And he wasn’t mine anymore.

            The thought hit me as sure as the sun is golden. I felt it and I held onto it. If I kept telling myself that he wasn’t mine, then I’d have no connection to him whatsoever. All would be right in the world. All would be good. Only… I remembered it all too much.

            I remembered as we sat in our place and he held me tightly, describing his big victory in his karate tournament. I remembered feeling his arm muscles tense as he struggled to stay seated while he told me. His subtle way of finally rising and walking away from me to demonstrate one of his moves on a nearby tree; the way he effortlessly walked back and sat even closer to me than he had before.

            I remembered the first time we’d kissed.

            I remembered the time we went to dinner with my little brother and my mom. The gentlemanly way that he held the door to the restaurant open for all three of us; the smile he carried when the waiter arrived at our table. The calm (yet giggly) way he regarded my younger brother once we realized he had spaghetti sauce all over his face.

            I remembered sharing the keychain with Taylor on the bus, poking fun at him for his choice to let me have it when we were so young.

            I remembered being young, having no cares about the future, taking camping trips and going tubing and swimming, all with the one that I now knew was not mine.