What About Now

Chapter 13 - Moving In

Taylor's P.O.V.
"Wow, you've a lot of stuff here, miss!" The guy at the cashier exclaimed, as I began loading all my shopping onto the till.

"Tell me about it!" I laughed, "I've got to carry it all up to my apartment after this!"

"I feel your pain!" He agreed as he started scanning the food, "So you got a party or something happening?"

"No, I've just moved to a new apartment in London, so I'm just stocking up on the essentials," I explained, throwing numerous pots of ice cream into a bag.

"The essentials, huh?" The guy smirked, nodding in the direction of all the ice cream I'd just packed up. I pretended to look offended and placed a hand over my heart.

"Ice cream is very essential!" We both laughed and I continued putting the bags into the trolley.

"So where'd you move from?" The guy smiled kindly as he handed me a bottle of bleach.

"New York,"

"Really? But you have a really strong English accent?" The guy looked slightly confused.

"Nooo, I used to live here, then moved to New York, then moved back here," I chuckled.

"Ohhhh, I see," He nodded, and finished up scanning my shopping, "That's £264.54."

"Ouch," I muttered, putting in my debit card. I paid for my shopping and said goodbye to the cashier.

"Goodbye, Harry," I smiled, quickly reading his name tag.

"Goodbye...?" He said, tilting his head in my direction.

"Taylor," I replied, taking hold of the trolley.

"Goodbye Taylor! See you around! And good luck with the move!"

"Ugh," I groaned, dropping the shopping bags down on the kitchen floor. I wiped the back of my forehead with my hand and breathed deeply. I hadn't realised how many bags I had to bring up from the taxi, and even though I had the help from using the lift, it still took a lot of effort to haul the bags to the lift, and out of the lift. And now I had to unpack it. Fun. Plugging my phone into my portable speakers, I shuffled my playlist and turned to my shopping. Time to unpack. Ten minutes of unpacking later, Son of Man from Disney's Tarzan began playing, and I instantly started dancing. I loved this song! Well to be honest, I loved any Disney song. As I was dancing around the kitchen, the song was suddenly interrupted by my ringtone. Stunned, I stopped my dancing, and grabbed my phone. It was the storage company.

Moments later, I was stood outside in the car park, watching the removal men lift my furniture out from their van. Thankfully, the ground was dry so they were able to put the furniture down once they'd taken it out of the van. I helped them unload it all, and several times almost broke my back from forgetting to bend my knees as I picked furniture up. After a long, agonising while, we finally got it all outside into the car park.

"Okay then, how do you want to do this?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips and looking over the numerous boxes and pieces of furniture.

"What are you talking about?" The shorter guy asked me bitterly. I stared back at him blankly.

"I mean; how do you want to carry this lot upstairs to my flat?" I repeated flatly. The two guys looked at each other and laughed. I looked from one to the other as they laughed, and I could feel anger start to rise slightly inside of me.

"You're being serious?" The taller, and fatter guy laughed, "We're not here to help you move it! We're simply the delivery men!"

"B-but, how am I supposed to move all this on my own?" I cried, throwing my hands up.

"That's not our problem!" The short guy smirked, "Good day." I watched them helplessly as the two men hopped back into their van and started the engine. They drove out of the car park without a word, and I could have sworn I saw them laughing at me in their rear-view mirror. My mouth agape, I looked back at all my stuff. How the hell was I meant to get all this upstairs on my own? The furniture would be way too heavy to put in the lift, and there was no way I'd be able to lift the sofa and other pieces of furniture up the stairs. Tears of frustration brimmed in my eyes, and I put my hand to my forehead. I needed help.

Just then, I heard the door behind me open. I could hear footsteps and then a familiar voice.

"Are you okay, love?" I turned around and was met with the one person that I did not want to see. Thomas.

"Taylor?" He asked, a large grin spreading on his face, "What are you doing here?"

"Well at the moment I'm trying to move in," I growled, taking a shaky breath and looking back at my stuff.

"Wait, move in?" I turned again, to see Thomas look at me with a confused expression.

"Yes, Thomas. I'm moving into the flat upstairs. Ironic isn't it?" I had no time for manners right now. For one thing, Thomas was the last person on earth I wanted to be living above. Secondly, I had just been set the impossible task of moving all my furniture upstairs by myself. Time for manners? Mm, no.

"Are you serious?" He sounded pleased, "That's brilliant."

"Really? Brilliant?" I spat, "I've just moved back to a place that I once felt was my home, and now my furniture has all been dumped in the middle of this bloody car park. How is it brilliant?" My voice cracked at the end, and I collapsed to the floor, burying my head in my hands. I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder, and I knew Thomas had crouched down beside me.

"Hey, hey look it's okay," He said quietly.

"No it's not!" I cried, hitting his hand away. I looked at him carefully, although my eyes were filled with tears. Thomas looked down at the floor for a moment and then looked back at me.

"Taylor, look I know I'm the last person you want to be here right now. And I know that you hate me. But I just want to tell you that I truly am sorry for everything that's happened between us, okay? I was from the moment you left three years ago, and I have been ever since." I looked down at my lap and wiped a tear from my eye.

"But hey," Thomas went on, putting his hand on my shoulder again, "I also know that you need a friend right now. And that's all I'm asking - if we can be friends again? And if you'll ever forgive me?"
I stared at my lap for a while, processing what he'd said. Was he really sorry? Should I forgive him? Could I forgive him even? After all he'd cheated on me! He'd broken my heart and I'd never wanted to see him again for as long as I lived. But I did need someone now. And although I hated to admit it, I did need him.

"Right, let me get this clear," I struggled to say without my voice cracking again, "I do not and will not ever forgive you for what you did. And I still hate you for it, from the bottom of my bloody heart." I paused, and finally looked back up at him. I could tell that he had hoped I would forgive him, and I could see in his eyes how truly sad he was that I wouldn't. It hurt me to look at him anymore, so I returned my gaze to the floor.

"But, I am on my own at the minute. And I do need somebody." There was a moment of silence, until Thomas finally spoke again.

"Soooo, does that mean we can be friends?"

"Oh, okay fine Sangster." I sighed, "We can be friends." A large smile grew on Thomas' face and he held out his hand to me.

"So do you want help moving this stuff then?"

"You aren't going to make this easy for me are you, Sangster?" I laughed slightly as he helped me up. He smirked, and looked at all the furniture I had to move.

"Oh this is going to be fun!"