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Taylor sat with her legs crisscrossed on the couch, trying her best to comb through Belly"s hair gently as they re-watched Pride and Prejudice for the fifth time in two weeks. Belly sat on the floor in front of her, staring blankly at the television, still reeling in dismal emotions because of her recent breakup.
Even though Taylor hadn"t verbally expressed her worries before their break up, she"d had a horrendous gut feeling that Belly"s and Conrad"s relationship would soon come to an end. She frowned at the familiar scene of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy fighting in the rain. It reminded her of Belly"s breakup since both scenes had ended with the boy callously walking away.
Steven bounded in through the front door, eager to open an early-sent graduation card that had appeared in the mail earlier in the day. His giddy grin faltered when his eyes laid on his little sister and her best friend watching Pride and Prejudice for the ten-millionth time. He couldn"t blame Belly for being in her feelings, but there was no way watching the same movie that many times after a breakup was a healthy coping mechanism. "Again? Why don"t you guys watch something like an old Barbie movie or something instead of something so depressing?"
Taylor sighed and turned to face her best friend"s older brother from the couch. "Really, Steven?" Her facial expression echoed the itching of annoyance. Steven"s shoulders sagged as he rolled his eyes. "I"m sorry. I was just tryna help."
Taylor was opening her mouth to retort a sarcastic response when her phone started ringing. It was Milo, her new boyfriend. The corners of her mouth turned into a small smile as she picked up. "Hey, babe. What"s up?" The eerily similarly-looking to Eminem boy sighed and begged for the girl to hang out with him since he had nothing to do and wanted to write a new song. "I can"t right now. I"m at Belly"s house," Taylor told him through the phone.
Milo muttered something about wishing that she treated him better, and the phone call ended with Taylor angrily shaking her head and hanging up. Steven"s eyes narrowed as he watched the frustrated girl place her phone back on the couch and go back to combing through his little sister"s hair. "Is everything... okay between you guys?"
Taylor rolled her eyes, wanting nothing more than to ignore the sentimental sound in his voice. "We"re fine." Steven frowned at the incredibly obvious lie. "Yeah, okay. Sure you are. I can"t believe you"re actually dating him," He muttered.
"What"s that supposed to mean?" Taylor questioned, whirling her head back around to squint at the suspicious boy. Steven shook his head. "Nothing. Just forget I said anything."
Most of their moments were like that, little banter and angry comments thrown back and forth. But after Susannah died, it all changed. Their dynamic was sweet and soft, in a way it hadn"t been in years. Steven was kind to Taylor, like he had been when her parents" had gone through a divorce a few years prior. In return, she was just as caring with him, commonly trying to lift his and Belly"s spirits from their seemingly pit of doom.
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On an early May night, only a few nights after Susannah had passed, Taylor stood by the oven, occasionally stirring the bowtie pasta when it needed. Only Belly and Laurel were home, and she didn"t have any plans that night, so she decided to do cook dinner for the Conklins. Laurel hadn"t cooked since Susannah had passed, and Belly was in a constant state of despair.
The water in the pot had just started boiling when Steven walked in the door. His eyes were alert and awake, but he had deep blue eye bags under his eyes, indicating that he hadn"t gotten much sleep in recent nights. He jumped out of his skin at the sight of Taylor standing by the stove, staring directly at him. "God," he muttered, placing a hand over his heart, "you scared me. Are you... cooking?"
Taylor nodded, her eyes wandering back and forth between him and the boiling water as said, "Yeah. I know your mom hasn"t really been up to it since..." her voice trailed off, "and I didn"t have anything I needed to do tonight. Things might be really shitty right now, but you guys still need to be able to eat regular meals."
Steven"s eyes softened. Taylor had been a constant ray of light in his life, and she was the only person he wanted to see when he got home at night. His mother and sister were always wallowing in their distress, and even though he felt like that too sometimes, he truly only wanted to focus on the good things. He wanted to see life for the beauty and intricacy it had to offer, not the wickedly horrible sorrows that occurred every once in a blue moon.
His lips parted with an almost shy-looking smile as he quickly used his arms to prop himself up to sit on the counter opposite of Taylor. He watched the way the corner of her mouth twitched in annoyance as the boiling water spilled over the pot just a little and laughed. "You need any help?" Taylor stifled a smile and rolled her eyes as she swatted his leg playfully before grabbing a dish towel to soak up the spilled water. "Get off the counter, doofus. People"s food goes there."
Steven felt a jolt of electricity run through him from her touch. His skin prickled with goosebumps as he hopped off the counter. "Yeah, and it goes on plates. What"s the big deal?" He asked through a snarky smile. Taylor rolled her eyes. "Come on, Steven. It"s common courtesy. Besides, there"s a kitchen table for a reason." Steven rolled his eyes, heartily shaking his head as he walked over to the kitchen table in obedience. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say."
There was a short stretch of silence between the two familiar friends before Steven asked, "So... uh, how are you and Milo?" He could"ve sworn he saw Taylor wince. "We"re fine. Why are you asking?" Steven shrugged. "I dunno. Guess I just thought I"d ask since I haven"t really gotten to talk to you much lately."
It was true, even though it killed him to say it.
He was falling, falling hard for her.
He"d spotted Taylor and Milo in Milo"s car the day before at school and watched the way they interacted like a psycho stalker.
Milo had a devious smile on his face and grabbed Taylor"s hand. Taylor squeezed his hand in return, and Milo had turned it into a full-force makeout session. Even then, Steven hadn"t looked away. He"d felt intense rage soaring throughout his entire body. His hand shook with deep envy. He should be the one with her! The one holding her hand, kissing her in cars, and walking into school with her. Taylor was driving him insane, and she had absolutely no idea.
"I"ve literally been at your house every day for the past week. What are you talking about?" Taylor asked, her jaw rattling up and down with laughter. Steven let out a small, dismal sigh. "Yeah, I know. I just mean like actually talking. Everything"s been kinda changing, you know? I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay."
Taylor"s eyes softened as she turned back around to face the pasta. A deep red color bloomed like a wildfire, dancing across her cheeks. "I"m okay, Steven. You don"t need to be worried about me." Her voice sounded hoarse and removed.
It was no secret that Steven had royally fucked up the summer before.
Taylor had pretended like nothing had happen,
and so had Steven.
But it hurt in a deep corner of her heart like nothing else she"d ever experienced.
The way he was talking to her now, the way he looked at her, it was something new.
It was something so horrifically similar to everything she"d dreamed of for years, but it couldn"t mean something-- shouldn"t have meant something-- when she was dating someone else.
Steven wanted to wrap his arms around her waist and apologize until every singular thought of insecurity or worry that she wasn"t enough, that it had been a mistake to kiss her, was gone. The next thing he knew, his mouth was dry and he had lost control over the words spilling from his mouth.
"I should"ve apologized last summer. I should have told you a million times that it wasn"t your fault. That I was the one who fucked up. You didn"t even know about me and Shayla, and I just-- I just can"t believe that I let myself--" He began to ramble.
Taylor blinked, squeezing her eyes shut as she interrupted him. "We don"t have to talk about this, Steven. What happened last summer is in the rearview mirror at this point. Like you said before, we shouldn"t have gone there. You don"t have to say anything else. It doesn"t matter."
Steven felt his heart drop into his stomach. "Of course it matters."
Taylor"s lips sealed shut as she turned to look at his face again. She was beyond confused, but when she saw his face, she saw a new kind of emotion she"d never seen in him before. His eyes were practically pleading with her to hear him out, and his eyes softened as he began to stand up and walk over to where she stood.
"What I did to you last summer was horrible, Taylor, and I"m sorry. More sorry than I"ve ever been about anything I"ve ever done in my life. I should"ve just ended things with Shayla there, and I didn"t. I should"ve gone back to you and told you that it was more than just a five-second kiss to me. I didn"t even know it at the time. But I should"ve. Because you"re the person I care about more than anything else in this world. It"s you, Taylor. You"re it for me."
Taylor stood there, heart beating out of her chest, staring at the boy whose face was now streaming with tears. She didn"t know what to do. Everything she"d ever wanted was happening. Her mind filled with a thousand thoughts, and it suddenly made her feel dizzy. The world seemed to be slipping from her grasp when she felt a firey sting spray her hand that remained on the part of the oven that was not burning hot.
"Fuck," she hissed, pulling her hand away from the scorching water. "Are-- Are you okay?" Steven asked, scrambling over to where she stood, trying to calm down the boiling water and test the pasta to see if it was okay to put into the strainer.
Taylor"s hands shook as she poured the pasta into the strainer over the sink. While letting it sit for a second, she rinsed her scorching hand under cool water. She wrung it afterwards, hoping to ignore Steven"s looming presence walking up behind her. Taylor was about to pick up the pasta-filled strainer when Steven grabbed her hand that had been burned and put it back under the cool water. "Ten minutes," He spoke softly.
Taylor swallowed, trying to make sure her voice didn"t shake when she asked, "What?" Steven"s lips spread into a kind smile as he looked over at her, coincidentally still holding her hand under the water. "You"re supposed to run it under cold water for ten minutes when you get a burn."
Taylor tried not to focus on the fact that Steven was technically holding her hand as she turned the water off and tried to pull away. "Not when you have to finish making dinner," She said through a small laugh.
Steven rolled his eyes playfully as she tried to walk away and pulled her back to the sink by the waist, running her hand under the water again. "I don"t think so. I"ll put the sauce over the pasta. That burn doesn"t look very good."
Taylor tried to pull her hand away a second time. "What? No. I was the one making dinner. I"m here to cook for you guys, not the other way around."
Steven shook his head eagerly. He stepped away from her as quickly as he could and rushed the pasta back into the now-empty pot. "Uh-uh. I"m making dinner for you now. No arguments."
"No, you"re not," Taylor firmly disagreed, scrambling back over to the stove.
She tried to take the sauce pot from Steven, but he swiftly nudged her away with a hip bump. "Uh-uh. You need to run that hand under more water." Taylor rolled her eyes and attempted one last time to grab the pot from him, this time making a little spray on his face.
Luckily, the sauce wasn"t hot anymore, so he didn"t get burned. Steven"s jaw dropped as he exclaimed, "You little spider monkey!"
Taylor had finished putting the sauce in the same pot as the noodles and was doubling over in laughter at the sight of Steven"s sauce-splattered face. After wiping the sauce off of his face, Steven"s expression towards Taylor changed entirely. A sly smirk crept across his face before he vowed, "I"m so getting you back for this!"
This expression was regular to Taylor, an expression she knew and loved fondly. "Uh-uh. That was your own fault!" She exclaimed.
Steven"s face lit up as he sporadically reached for her waist, but she fled the scene as fast as she could, eager to make sure he couldn"t get her back. Taylor was almost up the stairs when Steven made it to them, and he followed her the entire way up as quickly as he could. She tried to open Belly"s door, but it was locked, so she frantically began knocking as quickly as she could. "Belly! Dinner"s ready!" Taylor shouted.
Unfortunately for her, Belly was asleep-- and a deep sleeper at that. Time ran out, and Steven caught up to Taylor in a matter of seconds. Without a second thought, he grabbed her waist from behind, hoisted her across his shoulder, and then sauntered down the stairs. "Steven, put me down!" Taylor exclaimed, flailing her arms and legs.
A deep chuckle arose from Steven"s chest. "Payback is payback," He chided. It was only a few more seconds before he flopped her onto the couch and stood back up to walk away. Taylor, being a fighter until the end, immediately popped back onto her two feet and jumped onto his back, clinging to him like a koala.
"Hey, hey, hey! That"s no fair!" Steven exclaimed, spinning around in circles in an attempt to pry the girl off of him. His plan backfired, and the girl clung onto him even tighter than before as they spun. Taylor"s head was dizzy, but she remained steadfast.
After spinning for God knows how long, Steven finally gave up, collapsing onto the couch with the girl still attached to his back. He was the first to recover and immediately burst into laughter as soon as he saw Taylor"s face. She was blinking repeatedly, trying to get her vision back to normal. Even through the spinning world around her, she saw Steven"s facial expression and whacked his arm. "Shut up!"
Of course, that only ignited a new cycle of sparring between the two. They smacked each other"s arms over and over, pushing each other harder and harder until Steven almost fell over. In response to the final push, he grabbed Taylor by the waist to get her to stop.
The close proximity to one another slowed their breathing back to a regular pace, even though Taylor felt like she was about to fall off the face of the earth because of the moment at hand. Steven was mere inches away from her, and his eyes searched hers for some sort of response to his earlier claim. He wanted to know how she felt about him... and maybe a chance of them, together.
"Taylor..." Steven spoke quietly, his warm breath tickling her face. A small but genuine smile crept across her lips, but it then faded into a frown. "Steven... you know I"m dating Milo. You know I can"t-- You"re my best friend"s brother, for fuck"s sake."
Steven searched her eyes even more closely. "But what if Milo was out of the picture? Belly... Belly"s not anything to be worried about. How can she be mad at two people for falling for each other? It"s not like either of us planned this," He chuckled softly under his breath.
Taylor inhaled a deep breath, trying to fuse her thoughts into full sentences. "I think you already know how I feel about you, Steven. It"s just not... a simple concept. How the hell am I supposed to tell Belly or break up with Milo? He and I haven"t hung out in half a week, and--"
Steven"s hands firmly steadied her. "We"ll tell Belly together, and as for Milo, it doesn"t matter. He"ll be in the rearview mirror at the end anyways."
Taylor studied Steven"s expression. The way his eyes were softened in a way that was so delicate it could break with the touch of a finger, the way his lips were parsed slightly open-- ready to talk about anything and everything, and the closeness in which he stood and held her. "Okay," she agreed. "But I need time, Steven. This can"t just happen overnight."
Steven"s eyes lit up like fireworks on the fourth of July. It was like he"d just opened them fully for the first time, and he"d always keep them that way-- his eyes wide open. "I"m willing to wait as long as it takes, Tay. Forever, if it means I"m with you in the end."
Taylor"s lips spread into a fully formed smile as she walked into his chest. His embrace was warm, and she was home.