Time Changes Everything (Completed)

Chapter 06- Taylor

Chapter 06 

Taylor

I didn't know why I was so happy Xander could stay at my house. There was no real reason I should be.

I also didn't know why I had begged my parents so much to let him stay. I guess it all went back to the lost puppy thing; who would find a stray puppy and then throw it back on the streets?

At least that's what I told myself the reason was.

But no matter the reason, he was now staying in my house for the rest of the week. I brought his things (just a grocery bag with his pajamas, my dad's old outfit and a t-shirt he had bought) into the largest spare bedroom and set them down on the bed. I felt bad for him; the bedroom was so plain and bare, with no hint of personality or anything in it. The white walls didn't even have wallpaper and the quilt on the queen bed was solid brown. There was a dresser, but it was must a common, wooden one. Oh well, at least he had somewhere to sleep.

We ate all of the meals together at my family's dining table. Much of the day was spent with just the two of us or us and some of my friends hanging out by my pool. Occasionally we went somewhere, like to a beach or a movie. When Xander wasn't hanging out with me, he spent hours down in my basement trying to figure out how to use the Xbox. He also watched TV a lot, and for some reason he seemed to enjoy the commercials a lot more than the actual show.

He seemed to particularly like the Big Bang Theory, and we'd watch that all the time before going to bed. He seemed to wonder, though, how anyone could possibly be entertained by watching a yellow sponge do stupid things. He sure acted like he was actually from the future, though I still couldn't believe it.

As much as I enjoyed spending time with my new friend, after he had been here for five days I felt that I really needed a break. The best solution, in my opinion, would be to go out for lunch, just me and Jenny. So that's what we did.

We had a lot to tell each other now that we were finally alone. I told her about some of the things I did with Xander when she wasn't here, but I left out the biggest detail: the fact that he thought and acted like he was from the future.

"You like him, don't you?" Jenny finally asked, nibbling on a fry.

"What?" I said, shocked that she had the nerve to ask that question, "No!"

"Really?" She said, smirking.

"Jen, I have a boyfriend!"

"Yeah, and he wants your money. Not you. We've discussed this before."

"He's still really nice!" I contradicted. How could she say these things? Although, I guess they were true...

"So he can get your money. Just because he's nice doesn't mean he's the person you should spend eternity with."

"I never said I was going to spend eternity with him!" Where was this coming from?

"Then why are you even dating him? Why waste your time on him if you know it won't work out?"

"Jen, I-" I didn't know what to say. I was speechless.

"I can tell you like him. Don't kid yourself. I don't know why you haven't dumped Ryan yet."

"Jen, Xander- he's not-" I started.

"Not what, Taylor? Not perfect? Because neither is Ryan."

I bit my lip and looked down. Should I tell her?

Yes, I had to.

"He-he thinks he's from the future, Jen, from 2075. He thinks he traveled in time."

Jen's mouth formed an "O" shape as she took in this news.

"But... he acts so... Normal! I mean, he's a bit strange, but he doesn't seem, like... mentally challenged!"

"I know. It's... sad. I don't know what's wrong with him. Like you said, he seems so normal."

"On the bright side... I have something good to tell you," Jenny hinted, smirking.

I was a little bit disoriented by her sudden change of mood. But Jenny was like that- one moment she was shouting about my boyfriend, the next she was gossiping happily.

"Oh?" I replied.

"Matt Dawson asked me out!" She practically yelled.

"Oh my god, that's awesome!" I responded enthusiastically. Quite honestly, I was a bit disappointed by this news. Matt Dawson had always seemed to me like a snob. I knew Jenny liked him, though, so I couldn't help but be a little excited for my best friend.

"We're going to a movie together tomorrow, and then we're going for dinner!" Jen seemed beside herself with joy.

"That sounds great!" I joined in her excitement.

***

That night, I remembered, I had a dinner with Ryan scheduled. While Xander was playing Xbox down in the basement, Ryan came over to choose a restaurant for that night. We looked through different options online.

I thought of my conversation with Jenny earlier.

Just because he's nice doesn't mean he's the person you should spend eternity with.

He wants your money. Not you.

I decided to try a little experiment with him. I first went through the cheaper options, all different ones: from Mexican to Italian and everything in between, so there'd definitely be something with food he liked.

He turned down all of those.

When I started showing him the expensive choices, he couldn't seem to choose which he wanted.

Those were the results I expected but hoped wouldn't be what happened.

See, my relationship with Ryan was different. My parents payed for any dinners we ever went to, no matter how expensive. So neither Ryan nor I had to pay, and he always seemed to choose the most expensive restaurant possible.

I wanted to see just how much he was in to the money.

"You know, I thought the Olive Garden sounded good," I suggested, pretending I was interested in one of the cheapest options.

"Well, if you want Italian, we could go to Italia," he said, referring to a one-of-a-kind and very expensive Italian restaurant I had presented.

"What's wrong with Olive Garden?" I realized that a good boyfriend would have agreed to go to Olive Garden right away in this situation.

Ryan didn't.

"Well..." Ryan began.

"Fine, we'll do Italia," I relented. I honestly didn't care which restaurant we went to, and I had gathered all of the information I needed to during my little experiment.

The night at Italia actually went quite well. I knew I should have brought the topic of money up, but I couldn't bring myself to. I didn't really want to break up with him.

**Hope this isn't too boring or whatever... I promise the next chapter will be the most exciting one yet by a lot! I've got some good stuff planned. :)  

Don't forget to vote & comment! 

Also thank you to @HorsLovr for helping me edit this book grammatically. 

Oh, and I put Matt's banner on the side.

~Evelyn**