The Soldier's Girl (Under Editing)

Chapter 27

TAYLOR'S POV

In my family we usually spend all of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together. Now that I had Caroline I decided that it would be best for just me and her to spend some time together also. Today was Christmas Eve and I was trying my best to keep Caroline happy. I knew she wasn't herself and I didn't expect her to be because she was missing her parents more than ever this time of year.

Right now we were frosting cookies in the kitchen and listening to Christmas music on the radio. Caroline was sitting on the counter and I was standing beside her.

"Maybe we should make blue frosting." She said after putting down a finished cookie.

"I thought we were just going to red and green." I replied, still frosting my cookie red.

"I think we should do blue." She said and I handed her another can of frosting and blue food coloring, doing my best to please her. She took the frosting and mixed in the food coloring. We had just eaten lunch and it was around 1 o'clock. We would be going over to my parents for supper tonight and then going back again tomorrow.

Caroline was pretty quiet that afternoon. I was trying to get her to hold a conversation with me, but it was difficult.

"There's one more cookie." I said while picking up the cookie and giving it to her. She frosted it blue and put it by all the others. I held my hand out for her and she took it as she hopped off of the counter. She started to walk away and I grabbed her hand again.

"Where are you going?" I asked pulling her back towards me by her hand. She turned around to face me, but didn't say anything. I folded her into a hug and told her that we should watch a movie. We sat on the couch and since it was Christmas Eve it wasn't hard to find a Christmas movie on TV.

I turned on the movie and Caroline leaned into me. I put my arm around her and covered us with a blanket. I noticed her eyes start to droop within the first half hour. By the time the movie was halfway over she was all the way asleep. I let her rest her head on me until the movie ended when I woke her up.

"Care." I said softly while stroking her hair. She took a deep breath through her nose and opened her eyes slowly.

"We're going to be going to my moms house soon, wake up."

CAROLINE'S POV

Christmas Eve was alright. We had went to Taylor's parents house and opened presents and stuff. Right now it was Christmas morning. We were on our way to Taylor's parents house again. This morning when I woke up Taylor had a present waiting for me that she wouldn't let me open yesterday. I was really glad she was trying so hard to make this Christmas great for me.

Suddenly Taylor's phone rang. She took one hand off the steering wheel an grabbed it from her purse. I wondered who could possibly be calling her on Christmas morning. She said hello before checking to see who it was because she was trying to keep her eyes in the road.

"Oh yeah she's right here! Yeah." She said into the phone. She soon took the phone and handed it to me.

"It's for you Caroline." She said with a huge smile spreading across her face. I took Taylor's phone and pressed it to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked, not knowing who wanted to talk to me.

"Merry Christmas!" A man's voice shouts into the phone. I would recognize that voice anywhere. Tears started to well in my eyes and they were being forced out because I was smiling so big.

"Dad!" I said back and Taylor giggled from the drivers seat. My dad told me that he only had about fifteen minutes to talk because everyone else wanted to talk to their families too. For the next fifteen minutes I laughed and cried and filled my dad in on my life. When he had to go we were sitting in Taylor's parents driveway.

I wiped my eyes before opening the car door and following Taylor up to the house. Taylor knocked on the door and pulled me into a warm side hug before her mom answered. Andrea hugged us both and Taylor had her arm around my neck. My day got progressively worse from there.

For lunch we had a big Christmas dinner, that afternoon everyone was watching home videos from when Taylor and Austin were little, for supper we had leftovers, and after supper we resumed watching home videos. It didn't sound bad, but I was growing miserable.

At around 7pm we were all sitting on the couch and Taylor, Austin, Andrea and Scott were all reminiscing on past Christmases. I was sitting quietly beside Taylor thinking about everything. It was Christmas and I wasn't with my family. I might've considered Taylor family on some days, but right now where they were all remembering times I didn't remember and I felt like the outcast.

I fought back my tears every time I reminded myself that it was Christmas and I was so sad. I wasn't going to cry in front of Taylor's whole family, I didn't even want to cry in front of Taylor. I didn't want to ruin her Christmas like that.

We stayed at Andrea and Scott's longer than I liked, when we got up to leave I was relieved. I was jut ready for this day to be over. This Christmas would make it on my list of bad Christmases. That list included Christmas the last time I was in a foster home and the Christmas where we spent all day in the hospital because my mom was about to die.

Even though I was relieved to leave I still wanted to be in my bed where I could cry without anyone seeing. The closer we got to Taylor's apartment the bigger my urge to cry grew. When we still had 10 minutes to go on the drive I had a tear escape my eye. I still hadn't said a word since we left so I knew that Taylor knew something was up.

She didn't even look at me before turning down the radio and asking what was wrong. I didn't say anything back because I was afraid I would cry. She looked over at my and reached for my hand.

"Really what's wrong?" She asked again while stroking the top of my hand with her thumb. I was still trying to hold myself together and not cry. I just let out a shaky breath. It was getting harder and harder to hold in my sobs. I really didn't want Taylor to see me like this, especially not on Christmas.

When we pulled into the parking lot of our apartment building my cheeks were damp with tears. What made the whole situation even more sad was that it was Christmas and I was miserable. Why did it have to be today? Once we were alone in the elevator Taylor hugged me and slowly swayed back and forth. Her hand was on the back of my head and my head was resting on her chest.

It felt like an eternity until we got in the apartment, once we did I made a beeline up the stairs and too my room. I thought I was all alone in there so I let it all out and started bawling. I was startled when I felt Taylor's hand on my shoulder.

"Caroline come here." She said softly, she had a concerned look on her face and she hugged me again. I tried to wipe up my tears when she was around and I think she noticed because she just kept saying that it was okay. At first I thought she was saying that so I would stop crying, then I realized she was saying that it was okay for me to cry.

"Let's go down to my room." She whispered in my ear when she had me in a hug, then she led me down the stairs and settled me into her bed. I had given up on trying not to cry and was crying harder than ever. Taylor got into her pajamas and I had only calmed down a little when she joined me in bed.

"Sorry for crying." I said in between sobs. I'm sure I looked pathetic.

"Awww, don't apologize. I'm sorry you're having a bad day." Taylor told me while turning off the lamp so it was dark. She moved closer to me and kissed my forehead. I didn't know why she was being so cuddly, after all I'm the ugliest cryer ever.

"Shhhh I love you." She whispered to me after I let out a big cry, I hadn't even realized I was crying until she said it. It took me over an hour to fall asleep, but when I did I knew that right there beside Taylor was where I belonged. That day I didn't know if I belonged with that whole family. Now I was sure that I at least had Taylor. I could always stick with her.