Stepbrother: Luke Hemmings |a.u.|

No Matter What

I'm so tired. It feels like I've been driving for days. I'm scared. I'm lonely. I don't know where to go. Cara was the only person I even trusted in this situation, but we all know how that went down. I know I shouldn't, but I check my phone to see it anyone has tried to call.

Luke: 7 missed calls

My mom hasn't tried to call me. Not even once. She doesn't even care. I've been gone for over an hour and she just does not care. Well, I don't care either. I throw my phone on the passenger seat and slow down. I pull over near some open land and park the car.

Think, Taylor. Think.

I grab my phone again and check gps to see where I am. I'm an hour and thirty goddamn minutes out of town. I've been gone for more than an hour and a half? My mom still hasn't checked on me? Anyways, I can't figure out where to go an hour and a half out of town. I crank up the car and let the old Taylor take over . . .

I need to go home.

I turn the car around and turn on the gps on my phone. My phone buzzes in the passenger seat. It's probably Luke's eighth or ninth call. I don't feel like a lecture right now. I'll just talk to him when I get home. I take my hand and run it through my hair and I can't help a tear falling from my eye. I don't want to cry.
"Dammit!" I yell, hitting the steering wheel. Why the hell am I like this? This is awful. I've messed up my whole family just because I couldn't keep calm at school. I'm so pathetic. This is all my fault. My mom and Andrew are probably gonna get a divorce now and she'll weep for months just like she did when. . . when Dad left and it's all my fault. I lean over and grab my phone.

555-61...

No. I'm not calling! I throw my phone to the other side of the car. Her only daughter has been gone for this long and she hasn't even been decent enough to call.

about 45 minutes later . . .

I hear my phone buzzing on the floor. I keep looking forward, but lean over to the floor to grab it.
"Goddammit." I say. I have my fingers on it, but I just can't grab it.

Skirt. Screeeeech.

Another car knocks the shit out of the left rear side of my car.
"What the hell?!" I yell and swerve my car into a nearby ditch.

What the hell? What the hell? What the hell?

A man runs up to my window and starts tapping on it.
"Are you okay?! I swear I did not see you. Sweetie, are you okay?!" He starts rambling. I can't even make any words out. That scared the living shit out of me. I wind my window down.
"I-I'm okay. I'm f-fine." I stutter. The man takes out his phone and walks towards his car describing his location. I take out my phone and dial my mom.
"Taylor Ashley Dawson" My mom starts.
"M-Mom? I c-crashed the car." Tears start filling my eyes.
"Taylor! Are you okay? Where are you? I'm coming to get you." She exclaims. I tell her my location and get out of the car. Damn. It's pretty bad.
"Have you called your folks? Do you need a phone? I'm so sorry." The man paces back and forth.
"I'm okay. I already called my mon." I say and sit on top of the trunk. I put my head in my hands and just weep to my poor, old self.

about 40 minutes later

I see Andrew's silver car pull up. My mother runs over and hugs me. It only makes me cry more.
"Taylor, you had me so worried. You could've been dead!" She almost scolds me. I hold on to her for a little more before something clicks inside of me.
"Worried? You didn't even call to see where I was!" I tell her. She catches an attitude.
"We were trying to wait it out, that's why no one called." She dryly says. No one?
"Luke called me quite a lot." I dryly say.
"Ooh, Taylor, let's not have that conversation right now. You just crashed my car for God's sake." She rolls her eyes. She's so annoying.
"No, let's have the conversation." I say. We have quite the time to kill while we wait on the police.
"Taylor, I said-"
"No! Mom, I'm trying to tell you something important and you're not even attempting to listen to me. What ever happened to 'you never tell me anything. I wanna know about your life'? " I interrupt her.
"Taylor," She says in a softer tone.
"Mom, I know this seems really bad. I know, but this is serious. I know that you and Andrew are married and that you want a family, but I can't help what's already happened. I'm sorry for lying to you. I'm sorry for not telling you what was going on, but you've been making me feel so shi- . . . terrible about the whole thing. Honestly, I could've done worse, right?" I finally say. There's a moment of silence.
"Taylor, I just don't understand. You are a good, Christian girl. I raised you to know better than to fall into temptation. You have to think about this makes me feel. I know you said that you were safe, and how you have feelings for each other, but think about how I feel. This is a young man that has been taken into my house as my new son . You are my sixteen year old daughter. I just found out you two have had sex . . . and I'm now assuming it's been on multiple occasions. Taylor, I apologize for reacting that way. I am truly sorry, but I still just can't jump on the Taylor-Luke bandwagon just like that." She softly says.

Wow.

"I-I guess I never thought of it like that, mom."
"Yeah"
We sit there and look at each other. Dammit, I'm crying again. I look up at her with mascara stained cheeks.
"I'm really sorry, mom." I almost choke. She pulls me in for a hug. A tight one. She takes her thumb and wipes my cheek.
"Taylor, from now on, honesty is key. Not happiness or satisfaction. Okay?"
"O-Okay."
After a little bit more small talk, the police pulls in and we tell everything that happened.

After the whole police fiasco

I get into Andrew's car because the tire on my mom's is messed up. We start the rest of the way home.
"So, when did it start?" My mom randomly asks. I almost choke on nothing.
"Um, some w-weeks ago. I don't remember." I awkwardly say. I slide down in my seat.
"How many times?" She asks. I snap up and stare at her in awe, but she looks straight forward.
"Um, f-four? Maybe f-five times." I clear my throat.
"Four or five t . . . Taylor!" My mom says in disbelief.
"Mom, you said honesty." I say quietly.
"Right, right." She says. It's silent.
"Mom, why did you react that way?" I blurt.
"Taylor, I wish I could describe the kind of feelings you get as a mother. It was just a little overwhelming. I just said all things that came to my mind without repercussion. I was in a state of shock." She says in a quieter voice.
"W-Why didn't you call me?" I ask.
"Taylor, honestly, I thought you hated me. I felt like anything I said after that point would've been wrong. Believe me when I say, seeing you so upset and distraught just kept replaying in my mind. The thought of having made my own daughter feel that way bothered me more than you will ever understand." She says as she tightens her grip on the steering wheel.
"Really?"
"Taylor, I want you to know that no matter what we go through, no matter what you say to me, what you do . . . anything, I am your mother and I love you. No matter what." She says. Hearing that kind of puts me at ease. I know it will take her time to understand and she won't be comfortable at first, but I don't care. I know now that I will always have her love and that can get me through anything. No matter how crazy.

"I love you too, mom."