What I Should Have Said

1

Elizabeth lay under the shade of a large red maple tree. She admired the red auburn leaves on the tree and enjoyed the countryside's silence with nothing but birds chirping. She was so entranced watching the wind pass through and making the leaves sway around. "Betty!" A loud voice startled her. She sat up to see her friend and neighbor Taylor hurrying over to her. Her blonde mess of curls flew in all directions. "Betty gu-" Taylor immediately tripped over herself and landed on the ground before she could finish her sentence. Elizabeth quickly stood up and ran to her side. "Are you okay?" She asked as she carefully helped her friend up. Taylor took a deep breath, embarrassed over her clumsiness, "Yeah."

Elizabeth tried to hide her laughter and helped dust her friend off. "What were you trying to say?" Elizabeth asked. "I was trying to tell you that I finally learned some new chords on my guitar and I think I may have made a song." Taylor explained as the two returned to the tree and sat down underneath it. "Really?" She asked. Taylor nodded, "I still need to work on it but you'll be the first person to hear, I promise." She smiled.

"I can't wait." Elizabeth smiled. Taylor looked around. "So what are you doing out here?" She asked. "Just didn't want to be at home. I like it out here." Elizabeth shrugged. Her parents didn't have the best relationship. Her father worked as a stockbroker with Taylor's father and her mother worked at a small floral business in the area. She was close to her mother but her relationship with her father was complicated. He wasn't a horrible father but she wouldn't necessarily give him a 'world's best dad' mug either. Things seemed simple when they were apart, they only ever seemed to argue all the time when they were together. Her mother would accuse him of having an affair whenever he came home late and her father did the same to her. They never seemed to trust each other. Sometimes an escape was all she needed and this red maple tree was it.

Only 12 but Taylor understood that things weren't always great at Elizabeth's home. She knew the way Elizabeth's parents fought, she saw it for herself when she went over to do homework one day. It would get bad and she knew Elizabeth didn't like to be around any of it. "Do you want to spend the night? I don't think my mom and dad would care." Taylor offered. "I don't know..."Elizabeth hesitated. "Come on! I'll ask and you can too." Taylor smiled. Elizabeth softly laughed, "Okay, I'll try."

"Okay, I'll go ask and let you know what they say." Taylor nodded. She was about to leave when Elizabeth stopped her from getting up.

"Wait." She said.

Taylor looked at her confused, "What?" She asked.

She watched as her friend stared at her intently. Taylor grew nervous and watched as Elizabeth leaned in close, nervous and scared about what she was about to do. "There." Elizabeth smiled and removed a piece of a leaf that had gotten caught in Taylor's curly mess from when she tripped earlier. Taylor glanced at the leaf as her cheeks grew red. "Oh...thank you." She politely smiled. "No problem." Elizabeth innocently smiled. "S-so I'll call okay?" Taylor said as she began to leave, walking backward as she waited for Elizabeth's response. "Okay, but Tay-" She said trying to warn her friend but being too late as she stumbled backward and fell. Taylor looked over at Elizabeth embarrassed as her friend laughed. "I was trying to warn you to be careful so you wouldn't trip." Elizabeth laughed.

"Well, that's embarrassing." Taylor mumbled. "It's okay just shake it off, tater tot." Elizabeth softly laughed. Taylor blushed at the mention of her nickname. She hated being called that but Elizabeth was her only exception. She couldn't help but admit she liked hearing Elizabeth call her that but anyone else would immediately be met with a death stare. "I'll call okay?" Taylor sighed. "Okay." Elizabeth nodded and watched Taylor run off toward her house.