Where We Begin

Chapter 44 - You Know What The Issue Is

Dec 8th, 2002 - Taylor

"Um...hello?" Busta answered the phone warily.

"It's me. Doesn't your phone say who's calling?" I said as I shut my bedroom door and settled into the reading chair in the far corner of my room.

"You don't get to call a lot lately. I wasn't sure if it was you or like... your mom, or something." 

He paused after his strange response, and then we both said the same thing: "I need to tell you something."

"You first," he said. "I'm guessing it has something to do with getting your phone back. That's good news."

I curled up into my chair, holding my legs to my chest. "It's actually just the one good part of bad news. When I got home tonight, my parents told Kristen and I that we are going skiing in Vancouver. My mom thinks a few days of family togetherness will really change up everyone's attitudes. I think it sounds like some contrived Lifetime Christmas special crap."

"When are you going?" Busta asked.

"Tomorrow night, until Sunday."

I heard Busta groan quietly on the other end.

"Exactly. That's why I flipped out and told them I'd make the whole trip a nightmare for them if they didn't give me my phone back. Obviously I want to talk to you while I'm gone, but also, they are making me miss four days of school before Christmas break. I need to be able to get my assignments," I ranted.

"Your mom didn't put up a fight about the phone?"

I huffed into the receiver. "Oh, she did. She yelled at me that I would spend the whole trip talking to you, but I kept pushing the school excuse. Next thing you know, we're screaming at each other. It was my dad who finally calmed her down and said that giving me my phone back was a good compromise, but I'm sure she'll be breathing down my neck the whole time." 

Busta sighed. I could tell something was wrong. 

"What is it?" I asked. "What did you want to tell me?"

"Your mom is trying to break us up," he blurted out.

I laughed because I was caught off guard. "I wouldn't go that far. She's just being a pain in the ass."

"Don't play dumb, Taylor. You know it has to do with me," Busta said sternly. "Brandy said something about it when she was driving me home and then like, five minutes later my mom told me your mom called her today."

"What?"

"She called my mom to tell her we should spend more time apart. She told her we were too different from each other, something like that. She was trying to see if my mom was on her side about it," he explained.

I felt the blood drain from face. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes, of course I am! Your mom wants you to have nothing to do with me," he stressed.

"Sorry, I believe you," I said, my voice shaky. "But you have to believe me too. I didn't think she was that serious about it. I thought she was trying to keep us from having sex, not being together in general."

Busta exhaled, taking a beat. "I do believe you. This all just happened so I'm upset, but you're the last person I need to be taking that out on."

"I know, it's OK. I can't even think straight right now," I muttered. "I don't understand why she's doing this."

"Tay, you're the smartest person in Mt Blue. You know what the issue is," he said flatly.

I didn't want to respond. I didn't want to acknowledge the possibility. If I did, it would become reality. I didn't want to say it out loud, but I knew what Busta knew.