What About Now

Chapter 9 - Coffee

Taylor's P.O.V.
"Bella, this is Taylor," Thomas smiled, extending his arm out towards me, "Taylor, this is my girlfriend, Bella,"

"Hey," I smiled kindly at Bella as she shook my hand.

"Hey yourself," She grinned, before looking sympathetically at me, "Aren't you cold?"

"Bloody freezing actually," I laughed, rubbing my arms with my hands.

"Oh well why don't you join us for coffee?" Thomas offered, taking Bella's arm in his.

"Thank you, but I really should call my sister and ask her to come and pick me up," I protested.

"Bella and I were going to stop for coffee anyway, and you're more than welcome to join us!" He looked down at Bella, who smiled and nodded at me.

"Yeah, of course!" She smiled. And it was an actually genuine smile. Not one of those sly, or sickly sweet smiles that Molly would have given me. A kind and genuine smile.

"Weeeeell, okay then," I gave in, "Just one coffee."

"So how come you're here in London?" Bella asked me, as Thomas returned with our coffees.

"My boss told me that I needed to do some work over here with my old boss," I began, sipping at my coffee.

"Oh so you're going to be working back at The Daily Eagle?" Thomas asked over the rim of his cup.

"Yeah, for the next year," I smirked, "So that means you'll be stuck working with me again."

"Very funny," Thomas rolled his eyes and turned to Bella, "Taylor and I used to work together at the newspaper."

"Ohhh, so that's how you know each other," Bella nodded her head.

"Yeah, so how did you two meet?" I asked, eager to find out. I wondered why Thomas wasn't with Molly. What about their child? Where was he? Or she?

"Oh we met in a bookstore about a year ago!" Bella brought me back from my thoughts, "We went out a couple times, and now here we are!"

"Aw cute," I smiled. Now, sure this girl was friendly, and she didn't treat me like dirt, but I couldn't help but feel like this should have been me. It should have been me that Thomas was coming to meet from the airport. It should have been me who he went out with. But no, he mucked that all up. So now here I am. Talking to my ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend.

"So what about you?" Bella went on, "You got a boyfriend on the scene?" I couldn't help but smile a little, when I saw Thomas tilt his head to the side in the corner of my eye.

"Yeah actually. His name is Ben and we met just over two years ago."

"Oh really?" Thomas asked, drinking his coffee again.

"Yes really," I smiled sweetly at him. God, you had no idea how much I really wanted to punch this guy in the face. He had no right in knowing anything about my life, and to be honest, I didn't want to be anywhere near him at the moment. But I kept myself calm, and turned my attention back to Bella. After asking her many questions, I found out that she works in a coffee shop and lived on her own in London. She was my age, and had just come back from seeing her mum in Australia.

"Oh wow! Australia, really? That must have been a really long flight, huh?"

"Yeah, it was," She laughed, "The amount of times I had to climb over this fat guy to go to the toilet was unbelievable!" We all burst into laughter as Bella went on.

"But the spiders! Oh my god they were huge!"

"Yeah, I can imagine!" I laughed, "I swear, if I found one of those in my bed, I would be out of that house before it could scuttle off the bed."

"And believe me, I would know!" Thomas laughed, "Remember that time when you had that spider in your room and screamed so loud I honestly thought your room was on fire or something!"

"You two lived together?" Bella asked, with a confused expression on her face.

"Yeah, when I bought my flat, I needed a flat mate to help out with the mortgage. That's how I met Taylor."

"Ohhhhhh," Bella giggled, "So Taylor, what's it like living with Thomas?"

"Ugh, where do I begin?" I sighed, rolling my eyes, "Well, first of all I just have some advice for you Bella. If you guys ever get your own place, make sure you're the one who looks for the toilet! Isn't that right, Thomas?"

"Hey now that wasn't my fault! I thought it was the toilet okay? And it turned out to be the boiler cupboard!" Bella and I howled with laughter.

"Yeah, but no one tries to open the door with a bloody fire poker! You ripped the thing right off the wall!" I laughed, "And what was it? The boiler cupboard, like I'd told you before!"

"You idiot!" Bella giggled, looking up at Thomas who smiled down at her, "But you're my idiot." Thomas smirked and pressed his lips to hers. As they kissed, I couldn't help but feel as though my heart had been ripped out of my chest. That is what I'd called Thomas, the night we'd kissed in the moonlight when we'd gone camping. That he was my idiot. I swallowed down the growing lump in my throat and cleared it.

"Well, I'd best be off," I said hurriedly, quickly downing the rest of my
coffee, "It's been really nice talking to you two. Nice meeting you, Bella!"

"Yeah you too girl!" She smiled, getting up and giving me a hug. Wow, I've literally known this girl for about thirty minutes. I hugged her goodbye and then smiled at Thomas.

"Bye Thomas. I'm glad you're happy," And before he could say anything, I turned away from them and headed back out into the cold night. Luckily, a free taxi had just pulled up, so I quickly jumped in and told him where Sydney lived. Yes, I know I should go home but I really needed to see her. The driver tried to make conversation with me as he pulled out of the car park, but when I didn't reply he just turned his focus back to driving. I wasn't in the mood for talking. I stared out at the night as we drove. Cars, people, trees, and houses passed my eyes in a blur of colours, as I pressed my head to the glass window. Thoughts and emotions pounds my head and I didn't know where to begin. Had Thomas left Molly? Had he left his child? Had he honestly not the slightest amount of morality inside of him to at least bloody apologise to me? After everything that had happened between us, and the first time I see him in three years, he just treats me like an old friend.

Before long, we pulled up outside Sydney's house. I knew she wouldn't mind me staying one night, so I happily paid the driver and hauled my case to the front door. A light was on in the living room, and I could hear voices. A large smile grew on my face when I recognised them to be Sydney and Sam. Swallowing down my excitement, I put my bag on the floor and knocked loudly. Footsteps approached, and the door swung open to reveal my sister.

"Taylor?" She gasped, bringing her hands up to her face.

"Hey Sydney,"