I Know You ~ J.Seresin

25

4 months later

Bradley walked out to the porch to see Tate in her blanket sweater, wrapped in a big blanket and wearing a black beanie. She had her hands in gloves and they were wrapped around her mug that was filled with hot coffee.

Tate was seated on their porch swing. It slightly swung as she used her foot to rock herself. Bradley sits next to her as he has his own mug of coffee in his hand.

"What's that plan then?" He asks her as he lifts his mug to his mouth and takes a sip. Tate looks over at her best friend as she watches him lick the coffee off his mustache.

"We leave tomorrow for Mom and Dad's for Christmas. We then have to go to Nats for New Year's Eve and be back by the 3rd. We also have the military ball between Christmas and New Year,"

Bradley groans as he sits back on the porch swing.

He loved their family and he was more than excited to see them again. But he wasn't ready for the long drive they were about to endure. They could take a plane but the waiting made Tate anxious.

So they were once again going to hop into the Bronco and drive to the Kazansky home and then to Natasha's.

Tate was excited to see Natasha once again. She felt bad that she had been ignoring her due to Tyler.

She had been ignoring everyone all because of Tyler.

The two were having issues the last few weeks and Tate was over it. She was done with their issues and she was done with everything.

They argued a lot. Never in front of anyone that mattered but Tyler always seemed to want to argue with her in front of strangers.

It had taken Tate some time to think things over, and she had decided it was best that she break up with him. It took her some time to figure out that that was best for her. But one thing did make it easy for her to make the decision.

One night, Tate and Tyler had gone to an engagement party for one of Tyler's high school friends. Of course, he showed Tate off as much as he could, but to her, it made her uncomfortable.

She felt as if she was property.

While they were at the party, they slowly danced to one of Tyler's favorite slow songs. Tate thought it was romantic to slow dance to a song like that with someone.

It reminded her of when she and Jake slow-danced in her kitchen when they shared their first kiss, and when they slow-danced at the Hard Deck.

There were other times when she had slow danced with other men, but for her, Jake had made that impact on her in a way that she didn't care about anyone before him.

But there she was dancing with another man, someone who wasn't him. Tate rested her head on Tyler's shoulder as they continued to dance. Yes, she was there dancing with Tyler but all she could think about was dancing with Jake.

She was dancing with a stranger.

Tyler was a stranger to her. He wasn't Jake. He wasn't what Tate wanted, he wasn't good for her and she was very well aware of it. She was just lonely.

Tate thought that now was the best time to break up with him. They were both leaving for their families for the holidays, and she didn't want to feel bound to her phone because he was going to be blowing her phone up.

That's why she was sitting outside on the porch swing with coffee in her hand. She was waiting for Tyler to show up so she could break this off.

It was definitely giving her deja vu.