The War on Love

Chapter 27

I arrive in Crowley a few days before the wedding. I look up at the sky. I missed it. London's great and all but I miss the sun and the warmth. A blue Prius pulls up next to me. The tinted window gets rolled down to reveal Hale's smirking face. "Hey, Taylor."

"Loving the car, Hale. Very manly."

"Fine, you can walk," he mutters, pulling away slowly.

I place my hand on my hip and scowl. "Very funny."

Hale laughs and pops the trunk. He gets out and puts my suitcase in the trunk. "Get in the car." I roll my eyes and hop in the passenger side. Hale gets back in and starts the car.

He starts driving down the road. "Uh... My hotel is that way," I say, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Maybe so, but Wal-Mart is this way."

"What are you talking about?" I ask, a scowl painted on my features.

"Oh, come on! I'm getting married this weekend and you're living in London now with the hotshot actor! Let's have some fun. Just like we used to!"

"Are you talking about riding around in the shopping carts? Or riding on the skateboards?"

"Both...." He says, pulling into the parking lot.

"Oh, calm down, tiger. Let's not crazy," I say jokingly as I follow him into the store.

He rolls his eyes and grabs a shopping cart. He wanders the aisles and grabs two pillows. "You can the princess one. I want the one with One Direction," he says, throwing the pillows in the cart.

"Aww! You're so unfair!" I whine.

He laughs and finds two helmets. He sticks the black one with purple flames on my head and puts the pink unicorn one on his. "Safety first."

"We look hot," I say, looking in a mirror.

"We always look hot, Taylor. Now, get in," he orders.

I huff and hop a bit, swinging my leg over the side. He starts to push, building up speed. When he gets going fast enough, he starts to run beside the cart before jumping in.

"Selfie," he shouts, holding out his phone in front of us. He looks at the picture and laughs. "This is going to Twitter."

"Send that to me."

"Will do."

"Move it, people! We aren't slowing down and we can't steer! You move or we take you down!" I shout at the people walking in the aisle. Almost instantly, everyone parts and makes way for us. "Thank you! Have a nice day!"

"Brace for impact!" Hale shouts, pointing at wall that keeps getting closer.

We slam into the wall and the cart tips. We spill out on the floor. We're laughing. Only downside: he's on top of me. His face is buried in my shoulder and I'm not sure if he realizes the position we are in. But at this moment, it's pushed to the back of my mind. I rest my head back against the tile floor and laugh. I don't think I've laughed like this in a while. It's been well over a year....

He looks up at me, a scarlet on his cheeks. "S-sorry...." he mumbles, scrambling off.

I stand up and dust myself off. "It's fine, don't worry about it..." I murmur.

"Excuse me!" Someone yells.

I hear Hale swear under his breath. "Follow my lead," he whispers.

The man approaches us. His tag says 'Noah, Manager'. "May I ask what you two think you were doing?"

"We were just having a little fun," Hale says innocently. "You see, my girlfriend here, has a very serious heart condition and she was told she only had two weeks to live, and, well, her two weeks are almost up and we just wanted to this one more time before she died."

The manager glares at us. "She doesn't look sick."

"But, sir, I am...." I say, weakly. "I'm dying, sir. I just wanted a few happy memories for my boyfriend when I'm gone."

Hale sniffs and wipes fake tears from his eyes.

"Whatever. You still have to get out, though," the manager says, walking away.

When he's a good distance away, Hale starts snickering. "I can't believe he actually bought that!"

I laughed. "C'mon, let's go, Dylan," I say, dragging him out of the store.

"Damn. You haven't called me Dylan since we actually WERE together!" He says in shock.

I shrug. "Just slipped, I guess."

He shrugged. "What now? Movies?"

"Yeah, sure," I say, smiling slightly as I watch Crowley pass by outside.

"Penny for your thoughts," he says after a few moments.

"I missed home...." I mumble as I pocket the penny he just have me.

"Why don't you come back?"

"Thomas is happier in London."

"Why don't you do what makes you happy? Truth is, everyone misses you. You should come back home, Em..."

"But, I just moved a few months ago. I can't just pick up everything I've started and come back. I've already sold my house anyway. We wouldn't have a place to live."

"I'm sure you could find something," he says, looking over at me.

"Yeah, probably. I don't know, maybe I'll talk to him about it..."

Hale smiles and pulls into the theater. "Good. It'll be nice to have you home again," he says, a smile painted on his face as we buy our tickets and walk towards our theater.

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A/N: Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! So, Tuesday (I think it was Tuesday) I went to the movies with my friend. We went to see Big Hero 6 like any rational teenagers. And OH MY GOD!!!!! I HAVE NEVER SEEN A SADDER MOVIE!!! I was about to cry in the first twenty minutes! And I don't cry all that often! Like, I thought it was more of a tear-jerker than The Fault In Our Stars! But it was really an awesome movie. Y'all should go see it! Thanks for reading! Comment/Vote! -med_01

QOTC: Favorite chapter so far?

My answer: Probably 5