'tis the damn season - a tayvis short story.

// six.

"SECRET SANTA SHOPPING TIME!" Blake yelled from the living room area. Taylor let out a deep breath and walked into the living room from the bedroom she had been occupying. She plopped down on the couch in between Kylie and Abigail and crossed her legs.

"This should be fun," Abigail said sarcastically, patting Taylor's leg. It was around 1 PM now, and they decided it was ok to go into town and do a little bit of shipping for each other. Blake noticed a cute little strip mall on their way up the mountain that she thought would be perfect for this exact activity.

"Be nice," Kylie whispered to Abigail but started to giggle at the girl's attitude.

"If I knew we were going to end up doing all of this, I think I would have turned down her offer to come, especially being around all these damn couples," Abigail said, rolling her eyes.

"There are three couples and three single people here, ma'am." Taylor reminded her.

"Yeah, you're going to be in Trav's bed before the trip is over. Don't even try to kid yourself." Taylor rolled her eyes. Abigail knew now that Taylor and Travis had talked; something was going to go down between the two of them. Taylor was very much still in love with Travis, and Abigail had stopped her on numours occasions from calling him or following him on social media. Now that they were in each other's presence, Abigail couldn't save Taylor from herself. She knew her best friend well enough to know that she was going to end up having sex with the only man she claimed to have ever been madly in love with.

"You have no faith in me at all," Taylor said, nudging Abigail.

"I don't. I know how you feel about him," Abigail told her truthfully.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Travis asked from the other side of the room. He was sitting on the base of the fireplace, staring over at them.

"Mind your business, Kelce," Abigail told him, rolling her eyes.

"So, I'm going to go around and everyone is going to pick a paper from the bowl. You aren't allowed to put it back once you touch one and take it out of the bowl," Blake explained. Everyone nodded and replied in agreement to her rules as Blake started to work around. Starting with Taylor, she reached into the bowl and pulled out a paper, putting it in her lap, deciding not to open it until Blake was out of her general space. Abigail and Kylie both grabbed a paper before Blake moved around the living room.

Quickly, Taylor unfolded the paper and peeked at the name and handwriting on it. A part of her wanted to smile as she recognized the handwriting. "I have Travis," Taylor whispered as she looked at the paper in her hand.

"Did he put his name on it?! Blake said not to," Abigail whispered to her as Blake skipped around the house, handing everyone a folded-up form.

"No, I just know his handwriting." Taylor expressed. "He wrote me enough love letters and notes for me to recognize his handwriting anywhere." Quickly, she folded it back up and placed it in her lap as Blake took the last paper for herself. When she left in a hurry, that was one of the things she left behind. The letters, the notes, the memories of them in their early days. Now that she didn't have them, she missed them. She regretted not having the sweet little notes from him to reread. He was the most romantic guy she had ever been with. He went the extra mile to make her feel special every time.

"Ok, so all of the guys and Cara are going to take one car and go to the shops, and all of us girls are going to take a car and go," Blake announced once everyone had their papers. "You can't open your paper until we get to the shops, and you can't tell anyone who you got just in case the person you have is in your group." The grumbles and nods started as they started to get up from where they were seated. Everyone put on shoes and jackets and headed out of the door.