Keeping Up With Dan

4. This Is War

Taylor's P.O.V.

I sigh.  I can't believe Dan stole my cereal!  MY cereal!  He has his grubby cootie hands all over my food!  Grr.  Boys!  How does a girl put up with them?  He snickers at the expression on my face and ruffles my hair.

"I'm not a child you know," I say crossing my arms over my chest.

"No maybe not.  But you sure do act like one."

"Nu-uh!  YOU act like a child!"

"Oooh  who's the child now?"

"Shut up!  You act like a five year old!"

"Aww is Tay-Babe upset with me for eating her cereal?"

I don't respond to him.  Instead I just look away and pretend to be interested in the interior of the house.  I'm so glad that Dan's mom wasn't in the room though.  I'm not sure that she knows about Dan's nickname for me.

"Oh I see.  You're giving me the cold shoulder now.  Who's the immature one now?"

I continue to keep silent.  I'm not giving him the satisfaction of hearing my voice.

He finishes the bowl of cereal and sits it back down on the coffee table.  He then wraps his arms around me and rests his head on my shoulder.  I turn and face away from him.

"Aw come on Tay."

He nudges my neck with his head.  "Talk to me....  Please?"

I shake my head and continue to avoid looking at him.  Unfortunately, Dan is quite persistent.

"Please.  Pretty pretty please."

I don't even make the tiniest of sounds.

"Tayyyy.  Please talk to me.  I'll do a favor for you."

Hmm...  That's not a bad offer...  Maybe I should take it.  Nah.  The longer I give him silence the greater possibility of more offers.

"I know you want to talk to me, Tay-Babe."

He groans and throws his hands up in frustration.  "How are you this stubborn?  Could it be possible that someone so small could hold this much of a grudge over stealing their cereal?"

Ha.  I am stubborn.  I had to learn to be with him around constantly.  Hey!  He just called me short!  He'll pay for that!  Now the silence will just get longer.

"Fine.  I'll be incredibly annoying then since you won't give me any attention."

Fine.  Let's see what you got pretty boy.

"Tay, Tay, Tay," he keeps repeating my one nickname as he grabs my arm and makes me sway left right left right.

Ugh!  He's such a pain sometimes!  It's good that I know how to take care of that though.  I grew up with tons of male cousins.  Who would've thought they would've prepared me for the situation I'm in right now?

Dan's mom appears in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.  "Dan leave Taylor alone.  If she doesn't walk to talk to you because you're annoying her, than she doesn't have to talk to you.  It's as simple as that."

Dan starts to protest, but his mom cuts him off.  "Breakfast is ready.  I'm sure you're still hungry Taylor since my son had to steal your breakfast."

I nod and follow Dan into the kitchen for breakfast.  As soon as I walk into the room, I notice the delicious smell of eggs, waffles, muffins, hash browns, and of course cinnamon toast.  Mmmm. 

I grab a plate and put a little bit of everything on it before sitting down at the kitchen table.  Mrs. Lucas sits on my right while Dan sits on my left.

"Where's dad?" Dan asks his mom.

"Oh, there was an emergency at work so they asked him to come in today.  He said he would try to be home as soon as possible."

"Oh ok," Dan says turning his attention back to his plate full of food.

For the entire breakfast I talk to Mrs. Lucas and completely avoid Dan.  He seems pretty grumpy about it, but his mom and I found it quite amusing.  That's what he gets for stealing my food, but I guess I can't be that mad since I got to have some yummy breakfast cooked by his mom.