Taylor's walking down the hall when she sees Scarlett at her locker. "Hey."
She closes her locker and turns to Taylor with a small smile. "Hey."
"I'm sorry about yesterday. I was in a pissy mood and I just took it out on you...you didn't deserve that."
Scarlett shakes her head and glances at the ground with disappointment in herself. "No, I did. You were right. I was being a pretty crappy friend and you deserve better than that." Taylor shows a small smile of appreciation as Scarlett's smile grows in excitement. "So...to make it up to you...how about you come over to my place today after school? I thought you, me and Mia could have a mini sleepover, eat junk food, gossip, you know, all the good stuff." She smiles in anxious anticipation; Scarlett was always up for a good slumber party.
Taylor's smile quickly fades. "That sounds great...but I can't. I'm supposed to go home straight after school. Mom's got a new boyfriend and she invited him and his son over for dinner." She rolls her eyes in obvious irritation directed at her mother.
"Oh...that sounds...fun?" Scarlett chuckles softly, still disappointed with the disruption of her plans.
"Yeah...the kind of fun you experience from a root canal."
Scarlett snickers. "Alright well, some other time then?"
"Definitely."
~~~
Mia walks into the coffee shop with a somber expression and walks to the back room, grabbing her apron and then walks over to the counter grabbing an order pad. All this time she remains silent, obviously in deep thought, completely ignoring Jake. He's smirking at her from the side of the counter as she robotically grabs her things and stares off into the distance. "Uh...Hello?"
She comes out of her trance and looks directly at Jake. "Oh...hey."
"You seem...distant."
"Yeah, just a little." She sighs and leans up against the counter.
"What's up?"
She shrugs as Jake jumps back at sits on top of the counter across from her. "You know how I just wanted you to forget what I told you?"
He gives her a fake look of confusion. "What was that again? I forgot." He smirks.
She smirks lightly then looks up at him with serious eyes. "Well, I know what you meant when you said some things are hard to forget."
He gives her a look of concern. "Are you okay? Maybe you need to talk to someone and work through it."
"I'm talking to you, aren't I?"
"I mean a professional."
She gives him a look of disgust. "A quacky brain doctor? No way." She shakes her head and glances at the ground before look back up at him. "It's like I was doing so good for months and then all of a sudden the nightmares are back and I can't stay focused on anything. I'm a month behind in almost all of my classes and I feel like I'm about to come out of my skin."
"Did they start back after you told me what happened?
She shakes her head. "No...it was before that. I guess the first nightmare I had in months was...the night of the Fall Ball. I had to work that night but I remember it because it was one of the most vivid dreams I've had in along time."
"Did anything...out of the ordinary happen that night? Sometimes big events or similar events can bring up past memories."
"Well, I definitely didn't have anything similar to last summer happen to me but...I guess I did kind of have a big event."
"What was that?"
She smiles to herself and shrugs with flushed cheeks. "Just something sweet Logan did for me. It may not seem like that big of an event but it was...to me."
"Okay...well, maybe that's the problem."
She gives Jake a look of confusion and disbelief. "Logan?"
He shrugs. "Could be. I mean, you did say the dreams started around the time you and Logan were getting closer, right? It's a pretty reasonable explanation."
She shakes her head and pushes herself away from the counter. "No, Logan is the only person, besides Scar, who keeps me sane. He's not the cause for my nightmares."
~~~
Taylor's helping her mother get dinner ready in the kitchen when she hears the doorbell. Ms. Alison's stirring the pot of spaghetti sauce and turns to her daughter when she hears the doorbell. "Tay, get the door."
Taylor pulls her apron off over her head and walks out of the kitchen, pulling the front door open. Her eyes widen as a look of complete confusion takes over her face. "Mr. Jerry?" She glances to the left of him and sees Nick walk up beside him. "What are you doing here?" The expression on Nick's face is tense and angered and he just stands there, shaking his head at Taylor in complete and utter bewilderment.
Ms. Swift walks up to the door with a large smile and welcomes them into the house. "You made it! Come on in, dinner is ready." Mr. Jerry smiles and walks into the house with Nick following close behind. Taylor's eyes widen as things finally come together. She stands there in shock and watches as they all walk to the middle of the living room.
Ms. Alison looks over at her daughter and motions for her to join them. "Taylor, come on in and shut the door. You're letting the cold air in." She wraps her arm around Mr. Jerry's waist as he puts his arm around her shoulder and they both face the kids with a smile. "Kyle and I....are in a relationship and we both thought it was about time we brought our kids into the picture." She smiles wide and looks up at Nick's father with excitement.
Taylor finally comes out of shock and shakes her head rapidly, completely appalled by the whole idea. "Mom, you've got to be kidding me!" She looks over at Nick with wide, curious eyes. "Did you know about this?!"
He shakes his head, looking over at her with the same expression he has had on since they walked to the door. "I just found out." She gives him a look of confusion as he stands there silent and emotionless. She wonders why he is not saying anything but then it hits her that his father is in the room. She knows how much of a hard ass Nick's dad is and even when they were dating, he never said much when his father was in the same room.
"Taylor, I know this is a bit of a shock but-" Mrs. Alison quickly gets interrupted by Taylor's objections.
"-but nothing! This is completely over the edge INSANE! This is just another part of my life you're going to screw up and I'm tired of cleaning up your messes!" She turns and quickly makes her way up the stairs and into her room, making sure to slam the door behind her causing a loud echo through the entire house.
Ms. Alison sighs and shrugs her shoulders, looking over at Mr. Jerry with an unaffected smile. "She'll come around. Let's eat." She walks with him into the dinning room. Nick stays behind and glances up the stairs before making his way up to Taylor's room.
Taylor's lying on her bed with her face in pillow and just as she lets out a frustrated scream she hears a knock on her door. She lifts her head up just enough to shout, "go away!" Nick doesn't bother listening and opens the door anyways, walking into her room. Taylor glances back at the door and turns on her back, starring up at the ceiling. "Can you believe this?!"
He shakes his head and sits down at the edge of her bed. "Pretty insane, huh?"
She shakes her head as her jaw clenches slightly in anger. "I can't believe how selfish she is! She never thinks about anyone but herself! She doesn't even stop to consider the effects her new relationship is going to have on me."
"And it's not like I can tell my dad that this thing sucks. He'd just yell at me and tell me to grow up." He smiles lightly and looks down at her. "Hey, look at the bright side...most of my dads relationships don't last over a month."
She can't help but smile as he stands up and holds his hand out for her to take. "Come on, let's go eat in complete discomfort. I'm starving."
She snickers and takes his hand, pulling herself to her feet.
He wraps his arms around her shoulders and begins messing with her hair. "Sis."
She laughs and wiggles from his grasp before looking over at him in disgust and slapping him in the gut. "Gross, don't ever call me that."
He laughs and follows her downstairs to eat dinner with their parents.