Sure About It (Hanson)

Chapter 13

Whitney had just finished making bacon and scrambled eggs when Taylor came downstairs. His hair was still damp and it looked so cute on him she thought.

"Sit," she commanded with a smile and placed a plate full of food and a glass of orange juice in front of him. Then she sat down at the opposite end of the small table in the sunny kitchen.

"Wow," Tay said, taking a bite,"You're a good cook."

She smiled,"Thanks. I cook a lot though, so I've had practice." As she began to eat her breakfast Tay frowned,"Doesn't your mom cook for you?"

She looked at him and sighed,"When I was younger, yeah. Ever since we moved left Oklahoma she changed. She's...it's like..she's not my mom anymore," she looked down at her plate and tears welled up in her eyes. "She's never around and I feel so alone," she whispered. Tay came over and pulled her into his arms. She cried into his shirt for a couple minutes. When she looked up, her eyes where red and puffy, she swiped at them with her arm. "I'm..I'm sorry," she stuttered,"I didn't mean to pour out my problems to you."

Tay still had his arm around her and he squeezed her,"It's okay. It seems like you've been holding that in for quite awhile. You needed to get it out."

Whitney looked up into Tay's blue eyes filled with concern for her. She wanted to cry again, but for a different reason. He would never love her and it hurt to see he cared. As weird as that may sound. She looked back down at her plate,"Uh...thanks Tay."

"No problem," he said, then went back and sat down. They finished eating in silence.
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Tay had noticed Whitney's sudden change in attitude and knew it had to do with her mom, but there was something else and he just didn't know what. They sat in the living room, both in their own thoughts. Tay wondered when she was gonna ask him. He looked over at her sitting on the other end of the couch biting her lip. He figured she was probably thinking of that right now. He wanted to take away some of her awkwardness and just bring it up, but he promised Ike he wouldn't say anything because Whitney hadn't wanted Ike to tell Tay in the first place, so he kept silent until she was ready.

He studied her from under his lashes. She was leaning against the couch arm. She was still chewing on her lip. He had started to notice she did that when she was nervous. Her head was propped up with her right hand, which was leaning on the couch arm. Her long brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail, but pieces had come loose throughout the morning. She was wearing a blue short-sleeved top. His eyes followed down to the end of the shirt to meet the waist of her blue jean capris. She had one leg tucked under her. She seemed to be watching the tv, but by her vacant stare Tay could tell she wasn't. He turned to look at what was on: Price Is Right.

"Tay," she began. He looked over to her,"Yeah?" Here it comes, he thought.

"Uh..well I have something I need to talk to you about..but I don't know how to say it...," she trailed off. She bit her lip again. Pretty soon her lip is gonna start bleeding if she doesn't quit it, he thought. Out loud he said,"Well, uh, Whitney, you can talk to me about anything. If that helps..."

She took a deep breath and started explaining and asked what Tay already knew. She averted her eyes the whole time, looking all around the room, but not at him. When she was finished she stole a quick glance at him, then looked down at her hands in her lap. She was digging her fingernails into her hands. Tay slid over on the couch and gently pried her hands apart and held them. He rubbed his thumb across the top of the one. "Whitney," he said,"look at me."

She looked up into his eyes reluctantly. She expected to see anything but what she saw. "I understand....and...well..I feel honored that you feel that way about me...and..," he took a deep breath, (oh no, she thought, he's not gonna say yes) "...if you really want your first child to be mine, with no strings attached, then I won't deny you it....I don't know right now if I want to be in the baby's life though. I still have to think about that.

Whitney looked up at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe he had said yes. "Of course," she choked out. Then she couldn't hold it back, she hugged him like she would never let go, "Thank you Taylor. You don't know how much this means to me."

He smiled,"I think I have an idea of how much. He hugged her for a couple more minutes, then slowly pulled away and looked into her eyes,"Whitney, remember, no matter what. I'll always be your friend. Understand?"

She couldn't speak past the lump in her throat. She didn't know if it was from joy or sorrow or what. She just nodded.