% CHAPTER 30 %
I feel the scar on my forehead. It doesn't hurt or anything, but emotionally, it bothers me. I had forgiven my father long ago. I had always tried my best to portray the coolest image of him to my friends so they would think he was the greatest dad in the world, but looking at Taylor's stepfather just puts my dad to shame.
This man is caring, funny, and stays true to the people he loves. He watches out for them and makes sure they are out of harms way. That is what a true father should be like. I admire the fact that he can be playful, yet serious as well. My dad still hasn't got that concept down yet.
"I'm winning!" He shrieks on Mariokart.
I stifle a laugh and smile instead. He also does not know how to play videogames. We had to resort to this game to get him to win, and not just any track, but the easy track. He kept falling off on the rainbow one. What a guy.
I pat him on the back and pause the game. He stares at the controller in amazement. He begins turning it over in his hands, studying every aspect of it.
"You can pause!" He whispers to himself. "What is this madness?"
I chuckle. "I'm going to get a drink of water. Do you two want anything?" I ask politely.
Maria shakes her head. She's just waiting until its her turn. I've noticed Taylor doesn't look too much like her. Sure, there are similarities like the blond hair and soft lips, but Taylor's hair is a shade lighter and her energetic blue eyes are different from her mom's brown ones. Taylor obviously got her figure from her mother, but she didn't get the nose or the way she acted towards me. She did inherit the embarrassing speeches she could announce to the world like her mom though.
Taylor and Lorelei climbed down the stairs slowly. Something was different with her hair though. It looked a little, knappy. Is it safe to say that turned me on or can she read minds? Nope, I think she can read minds. Let's try to stay out of harm's way, Internal-me debates. He is clearly the wise part of me.
Lorelei obviously tried brushing Taylor's hair.
"Here, just put this to the side a little," Taylor's younger sister says professionally while gripping at a piece of her sister's hair.
Taylor winces. "Okay."
Lorelei's brushing strokes are erratic and fast. No wonder Taylor's hair looks such a mess. I chuckle and turn back to the tv screen. I play the game again and let Patrick get a head start. In the end he's wailing though because I still beat him.
"I was on my way to victory!" he whines.
I laugh a little. "Whoops," I say.
I turn back to look at Taylor, to find both girls are looking at me and whispering secretly to each other. Taylor waves her off in my direction.
"Go on," she urges.
Lorelei slowly walks up to me, nervously. I look back at her in anticipation and decide I would look less intimidating if I squatted so I was her height.
"What's up?" I ask her. She had never spoken directly to me before. I was sort of curious.
She gulps and looks back at her sister before turning her attention back to me.
"May I brush your hair?"
My eyes widen. I can see Taylor snickering in my peripheral vision.
"Of course. Go ahead," I say and she beams, jumping onto the couch and patting for me to sit by her.
"Lorelei Bradwick! You know better than to put your dirty shoes on the couch!" Maria calls out.
Lorelei immediately kicks off her shoes. "Yes mommy!"
I then sit next to her and let her out the brush into my hair. The bristles hurt a little, the way she's pounding it on my head as if it were a hammer, but I don't let that get to me. This is a little girl. I could handle it. Then again, I barely have any hair for her to brush. I'm a guy, and I'm definitely not into all that long hair shit.
Then Taylor does the most shocking thing ever. She brings out the hair ties and pins. These two are planning to braid up my hair. Dear God, I'm writing this letter to you to ask for help. Don't let these girls do this to me. Apparently, God enjoys me being embarrassed and no lightning comes out of the sky and pierces through anyone.
I grumble in annoyance while the girls mess with me. Leave it to Taylor to strip my ego down to a tiny thread. When they're done, Taylor quickly gets out her phone.
"Hey, hey! What are you doing?" I ask with loud suspicion.
"Just making memories!" She squeaks before snapping a few pictures.
I squint my eyes at her in fury. "Oh you wanna make memories?! We'll make memories," I say with gritted teeth before chasing her around the house, the one that contains her parents and all.
Taylor is running, laughing her ass off as she takes a few more pictures.
"You look so darn cute!" She calls, knowing that'll make me angrier. "I'm definitely showing these to Glenda. And Luca! Maybe even Aaron, Victoria, Gwen, Connie, Jake and Isaac!"
"Taylor!" I say menacingly while trying to catch up to her.
Lorelei giggles. "Go TayTay!"
So the little girl obviously doesn't know I'm always the winner. She's going to find out soon.
I finally catch up to Taylor and tackle her onto the sofa. "Where's the phone?!" I demand.
Taylor giggles. "I don't know what you're talking about." She lifts up both hands. They're empty. She then lets out a fit of giggles.
I pin her down even tighter. I like this position, Internal-me says. Okay forget it. He is definitely not the wise part of me. "Where is it?!"
She empties out her pockets. "Not here." I shake my head. This girl is playing tricks on me, in front of her parents!
"Come on! Where?!"
Taylor snorts. "Don't act like such a jerk. Maybe of you asked nicely, I would tell you."
I calm myself down a bit. It's worth a try. I don't want anyone seeing those pictures. "This is blackmail, you know that? Now where is your phone?"
Taylor bursts out laughing. "I'm sorry! I couldn't hold it in any longer! Your hair!" I frown. She makes her breathing steadier before looking me in my eyes. "I said maybe. I never said I would tell you for sure." My frown deepens. "But if you wanna know so bad, just look at Lory."
I turn my head. Lorelei is waving the phone in her hand maniacally. I sigh and get off of Taylor immediately.
"Sorry for the inconvenience," I mutter.
All of a sudden, clapping is heard in the background. "Such a gentleman!" Maria yells while clapping. She then cups her mouth as if to tell a secret. "He's a keeper," she whispers very loudly to Taylor. It's almost as if she wanted me to hear...
Taylor's face burns bright red. I chuckle. "That's what you get Tay."
She scowls. "Mom you're supposed to be on my side."
I guess I did win in the end after all.
$_$_$_$
After Taylor's parents leave, we get back into our normal routine of fighting and stuff.
I almost beam when I remember what tomorrow holds. "I can't believe it! I was with the girl for one week!" I say, talking about Amanda.
Taylor rolls her eyes. "Bret, that's no accomplishment."
"To me it is."
"Whatever."
We decide to stay up late together since neither of us can get to sleep. We are seated on the couch together, each of us claiming our own space with enough room between each other where there in no interferences between our "space bubbles." Come on, make a move, a voice says, coming from nowhere. What the heck? Come on... I sigh.
"What's on your mind?" I ask her after a long moment of silence.
She sighs. "Just thinking about Mr. Hemley."
My eyes darken. "Don't think about him." Taylor smiles sheepishly before actually snuggling against my chest. She's actually making the first move this time! Yeah because you aren't.
Who are you?! Am I going insane?
"Thanks Bret, for helping me out of that closet. I owe you one."
I shake my head. "You don't owe me anything Tay."
A faint smile makes its way to her lips. She looks up at me. My heartrate starts accelerating. Is she going to kiss me too? She then turns away and leans further into my chest. Her eyes close. It looks like she's in pure bliss. I sigh again. Why did I even make that assumption. What are we to each other? I have a girlfriend. She can only be my acting partner. I need to stop trying to assume that we can ever be something else. But I can still have a laugh or too with her.
"Enjoying my abs?" I joke.
Taylor swats at me with her hand before closing her eyes again and returning to her blissful state. "Just thinking back to the first day we met."
"Oh god. Never again!"
"What are you talking about?! It was your fault Bret!"
"All I did was bump into you! I even apologized! But all I get in return is, 'Oh don't think you can get away with that around me loser! Next time, you won't even get close to touching this ass ever again so don't even try! Don't think that sorry is going to get me into your bed cuz if you do, you're in for a rude awakening! I'm pretty sure I could sue for what you just did! Now look at the mess you made! All of my script is strewn helplessly across the floor at my feet. Why don't you pick it up, jackass? Or are you just going to let people step on them? Why do I even bother? We both know the answer already. You're not going to pick them up and if you do, its only because you want to look up my skirt. So just walk away like a good boy because I'm not giving you any entertainment tonight!' So I slowly walked away, surprised you would even say that to a person you had only met once."
Taylor gapes. "You remember that?"
I shrug. "I guess I do."
She then clears her throat before muttering. "Well it really was your fault..."
I raise my hands up. "How?! How was it my fault?!"
"Because you purposely bumped into me like that!"
"It was an accident Taylor. Accidents happen."
"Then maybe you should have been watching where you were going!"
"Are we seriously fighting over this?! It happened over a month ago. You know me now. I wouldn't do that."
"I'm not all that sure..."
"Taylor!"
She chuckles. "Just sayin!" Then she becomes quiet. "Are you really a virgin or did you just say that?" she asks thoughtfully.
I close my eyes. Of course she would say that. I look into her eyes. "Yes, I'm really a virgin."
"So all those perverted comments you've been saying really were just for fun."
"Oh some of them were true..." I trail off.
Taylor immediately smacks my arm. "Shut up," she chirps a little too merrily.
I laugh. "Whatever you say."
She curls into a ball and turns away from me. I hover over her for a little before giving her a small shake. "Bleh," is her only reply.
I shake my head in confusion. "What?"
She turns back to face me. Her blue eyes bore into mine. Her blond hair is everywhere, scattered around her face in random places. I remove a few strands from her cheek. All I want to do is kiss her, but would that be wrong? I only got away with it before because I was pretending, but she deserves to know that I actually like her.
I smile down at her before pressing my lips against her forehead. "Sweet dreams then," I say before walking up to my room.
$_$_$_$
I'm on a stage. I have no idea why. What the hell am I doing on Broadway when I know for a fact that I belong in California with the cameras turned at my face?
All of a sudden, Taylor pops out of nowhere. She waltzes up to me quickly and frowns.
"Why do you have a scar? Where'd you get it? I don't like it when people are hurt."
I feel the small scar on my brow. "I-"
She doesn't let me finish. Instead, she gets a good grip on my arm and drags me off center stage. The spotlight follows us all the way. Then we're outside. We're walking in the streets, yet somehow the spotlight is still following us.
"We're going to find your mom."
I stop in shock. That's not exactly what I expected from her. It would explain why I was on a stage though.
"Uhhh..."
"What are you doing?!" Taylor hisses. "Say your frickin line!"
I stare back, dumbfounded. Now I'm confused. In what twisted dimension are we? Is this Earth? Are we on planet Earth? Please tell me we are.
"Bret we don't have much time! We have to find your mother," she presses.
"Yeah okay," I finally agree.
The spotlight follows us through the streets until we meet a door.
"You ready?" Taylor asks.
I nod slowly. "Sure."
She starts pounding on the door, but it doesn't open. She keeps pounding.
"Bret you need to wake up now. You're gaining consciousness. Go." Her voice seems to be fading.
She turns back to the door and keeps pounding. The sound of knocking is getting louder and louder. At last the door opens and I'm greeted with a bright light.
"Bret!" Taylor screams in my ear. "If you don't wake up this second, we're going to be late for school! So get the fuck up before I pull the frickin blanket off!"
My hand covers my eyes from the bright light. "Just a couple more minutes," I moan.
"Have you not been listening to me?! I said we're going to be late!"
I sigh and push the covers back. "Fine. I'll get up. You made breakfast right?"
"No! Why would I do that?"
I give her that 'duh' expression. "So we aren't late for school."
"Oh that's not fair! Now you've gone and turned the tables!"
"Well its your fault for not making the breakfast. We could've been gone by now."
Taylor folds her arms over her chest. "Well why don't you do it then so we aren't late. Besides, you wouldn't have even been awake had I not come up here. Isn't today the break up day?"
I smile smugly. "It sure is. I can't wait!"
Taylor finally agrees to make breakfast. While she does that, I get ready for school. I throw on some clean jeans and a white t-shirt. When I get downstairs, the smell of eggs hits my nostrils.
"I hope you like scrambled eggs and toast because that's what you're getting."
I nod. "That's fine."
We both eat quickly before brushing our teeth and leaving.
"Soooo," Taylor drags out her words. "There's someone I want you to meet tonight," she chirps.
I turn my head towards her for a split second before looking back at the road. She's practically beaming.
"Who is it?"
"My best friend."
I roll my eyes. "If it's Victoria, I've already met her, you know since you decided to group up the table."
Taylor reverses the attitude back my way. "No. I mean my best friend since I was born. You know, sort of like you and Luca. Her and I were inseparable back in the day."
"Taylor, you're not old. Only old people say back in the day."
She pouts. "Hey!"
I sigh. "What's her name?"
"Whitney. You'll meet her soon enough."
Her phone rings. She immediately checks it. "Whipped Cream! What up!" She's silent for a moment before her eyes widen. "No way! You're moving here?! When?!" She nods her head vigorously, listening to every detail. "Omg Whit! That is so cool! Yeah I'll definitely make room for you at the lunch table. You're going to love it at this school! Yeah okay see you next week then. Bye."
She squeals out loud as she snaps the phone shut and starts moving erratically in her seat.
I arch my brow. "Tay, are you trying to dance in the car?"
She immediately stops and a faint blush marks her cheeks. "I'm excited okay?! I haven't seen Whit in forever. You have to understand that."
I nod, remembering my anxiety with seeing Luca again. "I do."
She curls her lip in disgust. "Ew, we're not getting married Bret. That's for old people."
"Hey! I come up with stuff like that, not you."
"I guess I learn fast." She winks.
After parking at the school lot, we get out and greet our school friends.
"Hey Bret!" Aaron and I high five.
Then I'm met with the person I least want to see. I'm skipping school tomorrow just so I don't have to see her face.
"Babe!" Amanda encircles me in a hug.
"Hey Amanda," I say slowly. I never say her name. I always say babe, but today is different. She frowns slightly at the name calling, but doesn't mention it.
"So what were you doing yesterday? You didn't answer my texts."
"I was with family."
I turn and smile back at Taylor. Amanda's frown deepens.
"Oh okay," she replies softly. I can't help but notice the jealousy aimed at Taylor from Amanda's gaze. The two of us drift farther from the group and walk to class together. Amanda gives me a peck on the lips before going into her classroom. I almost grimace and break up with her right there, but I don't. I want to do it all at the right time. It just didn't feel right to break up with her at this moment. So I didn't. I just walked to class.
First period goes by slowly. I gather my things at the bell and jog to my next class. Taylor's in it. I can't deny it now. I definitely like Taylor, whether I want to or not. Her family is great and they don't seem to have a problem with me. I can't picture myself with anyone else.
Great. I'm in one chick flick and am turning sappy already. This is not exactly what I was planning. But planned or not, I like Taylor. I need to figure out what to do about it. I walk into the class and set down my papers. Taylor isn't in yet. I decide to fish out my iPod and listen to some music. She finally walks in with a huge smile on her face.
"Bret!" she squeals as soon as her eyes land on me. She slides into her seat. "Man you and Whit are going to be such good friends! I can see it now..."
I roll my eyes playfully and smirk. "Creeper."
She smacks my arm while bursting into a fit of giggles. "Stop it!" she says.
"I'm not doing anything."
Taylor rolls her eyes. "Whatever."
"You've been saying that a lot lately. Can't think of any good comebacks?"
"Oh don't you worry Bret Mendoza. I've got a whole stack."
She does a hair flip and settles into her seat.
"Alright class, let's turn to page 782..." and that's when I zone out.
$_$_$_$
I pull Amanda's arm back before she can get into the lunch room.
"We need to talk. You see-"
"Yeah we do Bret. I'm tired of this whole charade you're playing at this school."
My eyes widen. "What? No. Actually I just want to-"
"Break up with me? Because you have a crush on Taylor? I know. But that's not happening."
"Lower your voice!" I hiss. "And what do you mean with the charade thing? I'm utterly confused."
I was supposed to break up with Amanda so I could show Taylor how much I care for her, but my plan is biting me in the ass. Taylor told me to make a clean break, but instead I decided I wanted to do this at the right time, like a gentleman.
"Don't play dumb with me Bret. How do you explain this?"
Amanda brings out her phone and taps it a couple times before showing me a picture. My eyes widen. This isn't just a picture. It's me and Taylor. Kissing on set.
I grab the phone out of her hand. "Where did you get this?!"
Amanda smirks. "Ever heard of Jenna Chavez? That's my step sister. Funny because she's starring in this movie called Love Sighting, written by this Derek guy. Her character's name is Stacy. She's the bad girl. I guess she's the antagonist in real life too."
I give her an intense gaze. "You can't tell anyone this, you hear?"
"About that..." Amanda's smirk gets even wider. "If you break up with me, I might accidentally send this picture to everyone in the school, along with a little description of what the people are seeing before their very eyes. Bret and Taylor, cousins? Wrong. You two don't even look alike!"
I sigh in frustration. "You can't be serious Amanda."
"Oh I'm very serious. Break up with me and I'll click the send button. Oh and another thing, you can't tell Taylor about this little meet."
I run my hand through my hair. Talk about stress! I this chick crazy?! "What the fuck Amanda! I think you're taking this a little too far."
She puts a finger to her chin, as if she was thinking. Her eyes reflect nothing but a barren wasteland. "Hmmm who do I send it to first? Your little circle of friends or everyone else? I think everyone else to make it more dramatic. Those friends of yours would feel so betrayed. They tell you everything, don't they?"
She waits patiently for my answer. I slowly exhale, feeling the air leaving my mouth. God, what do I do now? I'm slowly running out of options. Amanda has got this under her total control. Did she practice these lines in the mirror or something?! Just take the risk. You're doing this for Taylor!
Shut up, I sneer at the voice in my head. Didn't I say he wasn't the wise part of me? He's suggesting to take the risk and just break up with her, but that would be selfish. I don't want to be selfish anymore. Taylor deserves better than that. I can't just bust our cover. I've got to keep this all under wraps. It's just better.
Amanda's finger slowly starts creeping towards the send button. "Time is running up Bret."
"Whatever. I'll do it."
Amanda turns off her phone and holds out her hand. I shake it. "Nice doing business with you sir!" she chirps. This girl is insane.
We walk into the cafeteria hand in hand. "You're a good actor so don't even look sad Bret."
I quickly put a smile on my face and both of us sit at the lunch table together. Taylor eyes us suspiciously.
I chuckle. "What? Stare at me any harder and your eyes are going to fall out of their sockets."
Taylor grumbles something under her breath before saying. "Don't worry. They're perfectly fine. So about tonight-"
"Actually Bret is going to be out with me tonight. We're going on a date together," she says while plastering a sickly sweet smile on her face and playing footsy with me under the table. If she thought playing footsy with me was cute, she needed to go to rehab. Hell, she should just go to rehab.
Taylor's eyes widen in shock. "But I thought..."
"Hey love is love! You gotta make an exception in this case," I say as fakely as I can. I hope she notices that something is off. If she doesn't, I'm screwed. I should have made it a clean break like Taylor said. Then we wouldn't be in this mess.
"Well whatever," she puffs. "It's your life."
Amanda's smile widens. "I'll see you at six then babe!"
"See you!" I call out happily as she makes her way to her table with all her fake blonde bimbos. Oh wait, Taylor has blond hair. But she's different!
Taylor sends me one last glare before talking to her girl friends. I decide not to get involved with the conversation. It'll just make everything worse.
"Whoa dude. Your relationship with Amanda really got heated up since this morning. Oh my god did you...?" Jake leaves his thought unfinished.
I immediately shake my head. "No that's crazy! I would only do that with 'the real deal'," I say, hoping Taylor is listening. I told her before that she was the real deal. I meant it. Maybe she'll catch on. Then I might be saved from this whole mess I've created. I could only hope.