Living With Boys

Chapter Sixty-Six: I Lost My Nipples Walking Down The Driveway

"Taylor." I frown. "I don't have time for this, my flight leaves in two hours."

"Please hear me out, darling," he pleads, "I messed up, I know it now and I knew it then I was just being stubborn."

I shake my head. "You should have thought of that before, then." I mutter. "Should have told me a week ago."

"I know, I know. I messed up and I can't stress this enough, darling." He says guiltily. "I. . . please?"

I glance down at my phone in my hand and read the time. "Don't call me darling." I say stoically. Taylor looks hurt by my words, but currently I couldn't care less. He hurt my feelings a lot the other day at the café, and I'm not one for holding grudges, but he has on my end I'm not dropping it anytime soon. "I don't have time to talk! So please just go, alright? I have places I need to be."

I have less than an hour to get to the airport, and that's not including traffic and security checks.

"Taylor, I really gotta go." I frown. "I'd like to hear you out, know why you're suddenly this huge asshole, but I can't."

"Don't go." He whispers.

"I have to," I mumble, and suddenly I hear a loud honk. Taxi's here. I internally groan, thinking that this idiot couldn't have picked a better time, and rub my eyes from underneath my glasses. "Look, I need to go. You can call me though, okay? We can talk then. But Taylor, I can't. I can't stay and you know that."

He exhales in a long breath, his eyes shining with sadness and heartbreak. I can tell he wants to touch me, but hesitantly, he reaches out and wraps his arms around my waist, but keeps his distance. I accept.

"When will I see you again?" He whispers nervously.

"I don't know," I say honestly. I need to get my emotions figured out before I make a decision, and I have six months to get my mind made up. If Landon and I can fix things and we go strong when the end of the year comes, then I might stay. But if it doesn't, then I'll leave and move back to California. And whether Taylor is there or not, I don't care, because the smallest things he's done lately reveals how much of him has changed. And honestly, even if things didn't work out between Landon and I, I won't make ends meet with Taylor because I've recently discovered that he's changed too much to salvage anything we had before. It would be a relationship as strong as a piece of hair and I don't want to go back into the gutter if I'm honest. Life above the bottomless pit is still being discovered by myself and I plan to have it stick that way for a very long time.

Though right now, education is my top priority.

The cab honks again.

"Just give me a damn minute!" I scream at him. I growl out in annoyance and look up at Taylor. "I don't know." I repeat. "I'm not guaranteeing anything right now."

He gives a small, hopeful smile. "I just want you to know. . . I still love you."

My breath gets caught in my throat. You sonofabitch! You can't just drop that bomb on me when I'm heading to the airport to another country where I probably will never see you again! "I should go." I say softly.

"See you around." He sighs and pecks my cheek, but I redirect it and place a tender kiss on his lips instead. It's for his benefit, not mine.

I smile when I pull away. "See you."

I lock the door behind me and Taylor helps me put my luggage into the cab, and then holds the door open for me, closing it after I get in. I roll down the window.

"Call me when you land?"

"Have a nice life." I say. "Live your freedom while it lasts, Taylor."