suddenly sixteen

Help me?

                             Travis

The light escaping from the gap in my curtains pierces my eyes as I start to wake up. Reaching to my right, I shut off the chirping alarm clock. Its reads 5:50 am, meaning there's only 10 minutes until Taylor arrives.

Sleep starts to take over me again just before Taylor barges in way too energetically for my liking. She starts skipping over to my side and I shove a pillow onto my face hiding. Out of sight out of mind.

"Ah no you don't! Don't you hide from me now Travis! Look alive, school waits for you, and so do I! You promised we would go together for my birthday." Taylor finishes sternly with her hands on her hips.

I give in, groaning loudly as I toss the pillow off my face. "Fine but go away, I need to change. I know you really wanna stay and watch me change but-"

"Oh yeah for sure!" Taylor says exasperated with a roll of her eyes, leaving the room before I could finish my sentence.

After changing, I head downstairs to find Taylor chatting away with my mom. She doesn't seem to have noticed me yet so I peek beside her and blow air into her ear.

She jumps in her seat, suprised.
"Travis! Finally, let's go I've been waiting!"

" 'Kay. Bye mom I love you!" I call out.

"Bye baby! Happy birthday Taylor!" My mom, Donna calls out from the front door.

"Bye Donna and thank you!" Taylor yells as we get in my car.

We make our way to the school and are instantly separated, Taylor going to her best friend Abigail(who will never replace me) , and me to my respective group of friends I've made from my sports teams.

"Killa! Wasup man?"
"Trav! How ya been?"
"Ay Travis in the house!"
Greetings crowd me as soon as I'm a few feet from them, and I plaster a smile on as I lean in for a clap on the back. Afterwards, I turn to Trey and start to apologize
"Ay Trey listen, I'm sorry but I can't make it to your party tonight."

"The fuck? You said you would, what happened?" Trey snarled.

"My ma said no." I lie with a shrug. The truth was, it's Taylor's birthday dinner and I can't miss it. She also invited me to sleepover and I couldn't say no since it was her birthday and all.

"Sure man, whatever." Trey turns and walks away.

Classes pass by quickly and before I know it, I'm driving home with Taylor in the passenger seat. I park the car and hop out. I watch as she crosses the street to her house and waves goodbye.

I go inside, and head up to my room. I drop my book bag on the floor and start the shower to get ready for the dinner.

Once I'm fully dressed, I go downstairs and make my way to Taylor's house. As I walk in I greet her parents and Austin.

"Trav! Hey quick question could you go up there and see if she's ready?" Austin says pulling away from our bro hug.

"Uh yeah sure." I say confused. I mean I guess it makes some sense because Taylor doesn't answer to anyone when she's frustrated so Austin has probably asked too many times and got yelled at.

When I reach the top of the stairs, I turn to go knock on the door but find it slightly ajar instead. Pushing it inwards slightly furthermore I call out for Taylor but receive no response. I walk slowly around her room not wanting to find her unclothed. I reach the bathroom and knock. Once. Twice. Three times. With no response, I turn the knob and find Taylor dancing around the bathroom with her headphones on and eyes closed. I lean against the door and wait for her to find me.

Taylor turns around and jumps, startled. I stifle a laugh as she comes over and hits me jokingly. She takes off her headphones and pokes at me.

"You jerk! I could've died from a heart attack right then and there you know? And on my birthday! What a sneak you are." She says faking seriousness with a smile on her face.

"Yeah yeah sure, anyways they sent me up here to see if your ready but judging by your current ensemble..." I look up and down and her loose shirt and baggy sweats, " im guessing you aren't."

"Well you're wrong." She states crossing her arms. " I am ready, just need to put on my dress. Now shoo, I'll be down in a minute."

I'm about to descend the stairs when I hear Taylor shout my name. I go back to her room to find her with a baby blue dress that reaches mid thigh. It leaves her shoulder bare but as she turns around I see the tangle of straps holding the back together.

Taylor looks over her shoulder to look at me. "Help me? It's kinda difficult to tie behind my back."

I walk over and try to arrange the straps but it's a difficult job for big fingers. Each time I ran the strap through a loop, my fingers brushed her back, which usually wouldn't bother me but tonight was different. I didn't know why and didn't want to.

After tying the ends of the straps, I turn Taylor by her shoulders and give her a thumbs up with a goofy smile. I tell her I'll see her downstairs before I leave and head to the living room with the rest of the family. I sit and talk to Scott for awhile as we wait for her.

After a minute or two, Taylor comes down and we get in the car on our way to the restaurant.

~~~~~~

Trying to update often but schools starting back up in a month so hopefully I leave you with enough chapters before I update sparsely!

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