Heart Key (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 11: Love You Like A Love Song Baby

Song: Love You Like A Love Song Baby

By: Selena Gomez

"I can't believe we pulled that off." I laugh as we walk down the street and towards an ice cream parlor. My cousins laugh along with me as we walk in and the small bell above the door announces our entrance.

I smile at the cashier, knowing her from my past trips for ice cream as I walk straight to her with a wide smile. She's an older lady with gray hair and a wrinkling appearance, but she's really nice and takes the liberty of remembering all of her customers favorite ice creams. She even lets me have free ice cream when I've had a particularly bad day.

Yeah, so we're friends. She smiles at me as I lean against the counter before turning to start on my ice cream, already knowing what I want. "I would ask why you're not in school, but I see your cousins back there so I'm really not surprised." He voice is distant as she talks, it takes a lot out of her frail body to do things like this. I wouldn't be surprised if she retired soon.

"Yeah, they're moving in with me so I thought I'd spend a day with them to make sure they settle in." I explain to her as she starts on my cousins ice creams as well. I'm faintly surprised that she still remembers theirs but not very. She's skilled like that.

I pay her for the ice cream as she sets it in front of us before asking, "Is my space open?" She smiles before nodding and I grin happily. A little while ago I had been snooping around the shop (with the owner's permission of course) and had found a secret hideaway in the attic that overlooks a lot of the town.

It's very peaceful and the only other one who knows about it is the owner, which is also the cashier, and she goes by Grandma Cream and her grandchild who I've yet to meet. She's been trying to set me up on a date with him for a while and I would have gone on one at one point but he goes to a different school and refused on the date because my school and his are rivals in football.

It doesn't really matter, I wouldn't want to date a guy like that anyways. I motion for my cousins to follow me as I slip into the door leading to the bathroom before pushing open a door that reads, Staff Only, before walking up the winding stairs to the attic.

I brush off some dust from a small cafe table before setting my ice cream down and walking over to pull back the ratty old curtains from the small window. Sunlight filters through the glass and I smile at the sight. before walking over to pull a crate up for Taylor to sit on since she's the shortest (and youngest at heart).

The table only comes with two cute, little chairs that has white paint chipping all along the sides of it. I pick at the paint as I eat my ice cream and stare out the window. "This is pretty cool." Chris comments and I smile in agreement before glancing down to see Taylor enjoying her cookie dough ice cream as she follows my example and stares out the window. Her eyes are distant and I faintly wonder what she's thinking before shaking off the thought. It's probably something about candy.

"I used to come here after school a lot and just stare out this window when I should have been doing my homework." I smile at those memories before frowning and letting out a sigh. "That is, until dad said I was wasting my time and started making me come home in the evenings to do house chores."

Chris shoots me a sympathetic look as he pauses from devouring his banana split. We all look at each other for a moment in silence, tension and pain flooding through the air. All of us thinking of all the tragedies that have left us in our current states. Even Chris's eyes loose their happiness for a moment as the memories that I'm sure are passing through his head start to take their toll.

"Pain effects everyone differently." He says softly, breaking the deafening silence and I look at him as his eyes flicker in between us knowingly. "I mean lets face it, your dad turned into a jerk, player, and alcoholic. Taylor turned into a cheerful faker. I turned into a 'pain on the inside' guy, and you turned into one of those people who've given up on love completely."

Me and Taylor stare at him in complete shock as he quickly finishes off his ice cream before setting the plastic bowl back on the table. He crosses his arms before shrugging at our surprised looks. "We've all lost the same amount of people. Taylor and I have lost both of our parents and three of our close cousins. You have lost both of your parents, your brother, and two of your close cousins. The only difference between us three is the importance of the people lost and how it effects us emotionally."

I stare at him for a moment in confusion before saying, "I-I didn't lose my dad." He tilts his head at me for a minute before replying, "Oh didn't you? That man who used to care for you and love you like a true dad is not the man I see today. Let's face it, you didn't just loose your mom all that time ago. Whatever made your dad, your dad, died with her."

I feel tears welling into my eyes and look over to see Taylor already crying as she holds her face in her hands. I look back to Chris to see pain filling his eyes and I quickly attempt to wipe my tears away before they fall. "Why are you saying all of this stuff now?" I ask as I sniffle a little.

He reaches across the table and down to where Taylor is sitting before giving both of our hands reassuring squeezes. "It's been too long. We all three need to find ways to overcome these obstacles we've put in place to protect our hearts from the pain we felt when we lost all of those family members. The truth is, we need to learn to trust again."

Taylor looks up as he says this before softly asking, "What if I never trusted to begin with." She takes in a shuddering breath as she says this and I feel sympathy pull at my heart strings for this small, sad girl.

Chris stands now before walking over to hug his twin. "We should trust each other first. Taylor, trust us with your over-thinking mind. Marcy, trust with your shielded heart. I trust you two, but I'll learn to show my true colors more often, to trust y'all to still love me even if I show you guys who I really am at times." He looks at Taylor as he says this and I can tell that their problems are similar to one another.

"Loving is hard." I whisper softly and Chris nods before reaching out and taking my hand in his. "But it's worth it, even with all of the poo it puts you through, even when it feels like your heart will burst or it's been dragged through barbed wire. It's still worth the effort put into it."

I wipe my tears as we all three stare at each other and I slowly nod. "I'll try." Taylor whispers and Chris smiles before they both turn to look at me. "I will too." We smile at each other and, to lighten the mood, I look directly at Chris before saying, "Man, you've gotten all deep since the last time I've seen you."

Author's Note IMPORTANT!!!

My next chapter will be in Taylor's point of view. I feel like I should give you more of an insight on her character since she really hasn't had a lot of focus during their introductory chapter. It's mostly been focused on introducing Chris so I'll give you more of an insight on her actual feelings for her fist day of school and what she thinks as she does all of these childish things. It will be interesting, I think so anyway. I hope you enjoy it and please tell me what you think when I write and post it and after you write it. Okay, thank you beautiful readers!