Helplessly in Love: A Taylor Lautner Love Story

Chapter Fifteen - Secrets

That summer, Nicky and I made a pact: that we'd never let a guy come between us ever again. And after that, nothing like that ever happened again, because I'd never put myself in that position. I was scared to be in a relationship because my best friend was Nicole Walsh. 

And now that I look back on things and our past, I realize that the same problem could very well be happeneing again. I'm letting a guy come between us, breaking the pact.

I hate that she's mad at me, but I really can't be mad at her because she didn't do anything wrong. I was the one who lied to her about my first boyfriend. She was the one who had been preparing me for that day. It's funny because when I first met Taylor, all those little pep-talks and training Nicky gave me went out the window. I did this on my own, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

My phone cut through my thoughts and I realized that I finished off this bag of chips. Wiping my mouth, I answered the phone with a sluggish voice, "Hello?"

"Hey, Rachel. Sorry I missed your call," Taylor said into the phone. His voice was like magic, wiping away all my bad and complicated thoughts. I stood there with my eyes closed, reveling in the sound of it.

"It's okay."

"Alright," he said. Then with a much more strained voice, "we need to talk."

Time meant nothing to me anymore. I was sure this was the end of it altogether. Maybe I'd just been dreaming this whole time and was about to wake up from it, because I'd had a week to be Taylor Lautner's girlfriend. And now my time was unfortunately up.

"About what?" I sounded more vulnerable than I wanted to.

"I'll tell you when I get there," he said. "Give me twenty minutes."

And then the line went dead.

Well, I'd been crying for a few hours now, so I figured my eyes ran dry when I couldn't produce any more tears. I felt numb as I ran into the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my face somewhat. I was hoping the red in my eyes would go away by the time he got here. I kept a cold towel over my eyes and laid down on the sofa, stretching out.  My back felt funny after laying on the floor.

All too soon, there was a brief tap at the door. I sprung up, giving myself a headrush, and answered the door, preparing to be dumped. How can anybody prepare to be dumped? 

His eyes widened when he saw me, and mine did, too. I took in his dishelved hair and rumpled shirt. His eyes had the slightest touch of red around the warm brown that didn't look so warm at this moment.

"Rachel," he breathed, immediately rushing over and wrapping his arms around me. I sighed into his chest, enveloped in his warmth. Although I was slighly confused because this isn't what people did when they were about to break up, right? Either way, I wouldn't know.

I pulled back, just enough to look at his face, to try to decipher his thoughts at this moment. His grip on me never loosened as he looked down at me. His sincerity was enough to stun me. He gently pressed my head back to his chest and continued to hold me. I felt his heartbeat against my cheek, and found that it was exactly matched to mine. I pulled away at once, terified. I was about to tell him our heartbeats matched, but I'm sure they didn't now because mine just climbed up a few notches.

"What's wrong?" he says, coming closer again. I look down and try to swallow the lump in my throat.      

"What's going on?" I ask quietly, not meeting his eyes. 

"I wanted to talk to you. And I know you were crying on the phone. I just want to talk."

I kept my distance and took a seat in the chair nearest me, pulling my knees up to my chest and not meeting his eyes.