“So you never answered my question”, he said to remind me, but I felt like playing dumb.
“What question is that?”
To my surprise he stood me up, got on one knee, sighed, and looked me in the eye.
“Taylor?”
“Yes Michael?”
“Will you go out with me?”
“Michael?”
“Yes?”
“Why me?”
“Because you are perfect and I enjoy spending time with you. I go crazy just thinking about you. So why not you?”
“Michael.”
“Yes?”
“Yes I will go out with you only on one condition.”
“What is that?”
“Please get up you look ridiculous.”
“Or you could come down here.”
Before I could respond he had already grabbed me and pulled me down. I couldn’t help but to smile. He grabbed my chin and pulled it to his. Before I knew it I felt his warm and smooth lips on mine. We ended up laying on the dirt looking up into the sky.
“It is so vast out there”, he said as he looked at me.
“That it is. I mean there is only a few billion galaxies out there”, I said with a shiver of coldness to my voice.
“Are you cold?”
“No I’m fine.”
“Stop lying, you are cold here”, He pulled off his jacket pulled me as close as I could go to him and placed the jacket over both of us.
“Michael, I think it was a bad idea that we wore our fanciest clothing to the baseball field. We are going to have dirt on them for weeks.”
“Well if I had a heads up on where we were going I would not have worn this and you didn’t have to wear your fancy clothing.”
“Well I sure and hell was not going to look like shit.”
We continued to lay there for what seemed like decades. I did not mind because he smelt like Polo. Finally the day had to come to an abrupt end when the police came and told us we had to leave. We got back in his truck and I still wore his jacket. On the way back to my house there was little talk. The silence made me start dozing off and before I knew it I was asleep in his truck.
I woke up the next morning, to the sound of my alarm clock, in my bed wondering how I got there. I looked over at my night table and saw a note that said Taylor in that same handwriting that Michael had. I opened the letter and it read:
Good morning sleepy head,
I hope you don’t mind but I put you in bed. I will come to get you in the morning.
I was shocked was this really life or was I dreaming. I figured there was only one way to find out and that was to see if he was in my living room. I pulled the covers off to see that I was still in my clothes from last night. I opened my door slowly and walked down the hall. I saw the lights were on in the living room and kitchen area. I continued down the path I was on and was now in the opening of the kitchen and living room. To my surprise I saw Michael in new cloths sitting on my couch.
“Good morning Taylor.”
“Good morning?”
“Do you want breakfast before school?”
“No it’s all good Michael. I’ll just grab a pop tart,”
He came up to me and placed his lips on mine. While in the middle of kissing he opened his eyes and said, “You might want to get ready for school. So we don’t run late.”
I kissed him before running back to my bedroom, choosing an outfit, and taking a shower. After about thirty minutes of getting ready we were out the door holding hands.
Chapter Five: “The Fountaine Party”
The buzzing of my phone woke me up. I looked down and it was Aaron asking where I was at. I didn’t realize that it was already nine o’clock. I rushed out of my bed to finish getting ready. I was done in ten minutes tops. I grabbed my jacket off of the island in the kitchen just in case it was going to be cold. Aaron only lived a short distance away from me. He lived about five to ten minutes away, so getting there in a jiffy wasn’t a problem. As I pulled up to his driveway I could see that there were a ton of people at the party. Just about the whole senior class at our school and at the neighboring schools came to this one party. I got out of my car and was greeted by Aaron asking me a bazillion question and getting onto me for being fashionably late. Aaron grabbed the nearest glass and filled it up with foamy beer.
“Here drink this”, he commanded me. So I grabbed the glass and started drinking it. I wondered off from Aaron while he was greeting other guests. I walked into his mansion only to see people grinding and twerking all over the living room and kitchen. I wanted to be alone just for a few minutes to gather my thoughts. So I went upstairs and went thru the door that was Aarons. I shut his bedroom door and walked into his huge bathroom that was bigger than my bedroom and closet put together. His bathroom had a Garden tub in its own little cove, a steam shower next to the tub in the cove, and through a single door was his toilet. I walked through the beige room with black flooring to the sink. I turned on the faucet and threw cold water over my face. I couldn’t stop thinking about Michael and what he had done this morning. What if he was at this party? Before I could throw that thought out Michael came through the double doors of the bathroom, shut them, and locked them. I could tell he had a little too much to drink from stumbling around. Was my life in danger? Was this the end for me? Was this what his text from summer meant? I didn’t want to die at a party. Michael was standing face to face with me before I could react. He grabbed my face and repeated what he did in the boys bathroom this morning. I pushed away from him.
“Michael just…stop”, It felt like I couldn’t get simple words out.
“Tell me why.”
“Why what?”
“Tell me why we suddenly quite talking. Tell me what changed.”
“Michael do you not remember the text you sent me during summer?”
“Taylor, what are you talking about?”
Could he really be that dumb or was he set up. I couldn’t risk getting hurt again and I didn’t want to. I pulled out my phone from my back pocket of my jeans to show him the text. After scrolling through the bazillion messages he had sent me I finally found it.
“This message Michael.” He read the message with an astonished look on his face. “Taylor I had no idea about that message. I never sent it. My phone was missing I had to get a new one.”
I could tell by the look on his face that he was in fact telling the truth. I gave him a big hug, “I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?”
“Forgive you for what Taylor? You honestly thought I sent that message. I would be upset too. I am just surprised you forgave me.”
“Michael, I didn’t know what to do without you. You were always on my mind.”
I notice that Michael was wobbling so I guided him to the bathtub and we both sat in it. My feet were almost in his face and his almost in my face. We talked and laughed for hours on end until Michael threw up all over his shirt and pants. I laughed and told him to take off his shirt and pants. He did as I commanded with his shirt but was more reluctant on his pants being off. I told him if he didn’t I would leave the bathroom and not come back and he finally agreed to take off his pants. I took it to the sink and washed off most of the vomit. I walked back to the tub and got in being snug by his bare side. He kissed me on the forehead and fell asleep. I stayed awake for a couple of more hours tracing his nipples, his belly button, and the path from his nipples to his belly button with my finger. I couldn’t stop thinking about who would send me such messages. After a while of thinking about the whole message ordeal, I ended up being curious about what he was hiding under his plaid blue boxers from Aero. I grabbed the stretchy part of his boxers and pulled up. I was shocked for what his boxers were hiding. I looked up at him and saw that he was looking at me smiling with that quirky smile t
hat he always had and that I always adored.
“See anything you liked”, he asked with knowledge of my shock.
I just smiled and waved my head yes kissed his bare chest and laid my head on his chest. I felt him kiss my head. I looked up and noticed he was out of it again and I soon was after him.
Chapter Six: “The Things We Dream Of”
I kept finding myself dreaming about the same thing over and over again. Michael and I getting married, adopting kids, and living in a big house. Of course this is a cliché of the “American Dream”, but it was what I wanted.
I finally woke up after Michael had moved.
“Hey I am sorry didn’t mean to wake you”, Michael said in his deep soothing voice.
“It is fine this tub was giving me bad back aches anyways.”
“Why don’t you go lay down in the bedroom I will be there in a minute.”
“Michael do you have a bad hangover.”
He smiled at me and nodded, “Just a little.”
I got up from the tub and went into Aarons football field sized bedroom. I made my way to the bed and before I jumped into the California king bed I looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand.
3:23 A.M. it read in its illuminating letters. I jumped into the bed and threw the covers over me. I could hear Michael in the bathroom throwing up. As I started dozing back off to sleep, not wanting to just to make sure Michael was okay, I felt someone in the bed with me. At first I thought it was Michael, but this person had a different feel. Before I could move to see who it was they were already on top of me pinning me down. I started to make out the shape of who it was and to my surprise it was Aaron.
“Aaron what are you doing”, I asked with curiosity and fear.
“I want you”, he replied as he tried to kiss me, “That’s why I stole Michaels phone and sent that message. I knew that you too would break up and I would get my chance again.”
“Aaron stop”, I screamed with great authority in my voice.
He didn’t stop so I screamed it louder “Aaron STOP!”
At this point Michael had heard me and he ran into the room. He pushed Aaron off of me and started beating him.
“Run to my car”, Michael had screamed to me.
I didn’t even question his authority I just ran, I ran as fast as I could. I finally made it to his truck and hopped in. Minutes later Michael jumped into the driver seat of the truck. He looked away so I couldn’t see his face.
“Michael look at me”, I said to him in a worried voice, but he ignored me and continued to look away.
I got out of my seat and climbed to the driver side to try to see his face, but he kept pushing me away. I finally had enough and grabbed his face and turned it to mine. His face had cuts and blood everywhere.
“Thank you”, I told Michael before kissing his beat up lips, “Let’s go now.”
He turned the truck on and sped out of Aarons drive way without any questions. Behind us I could see the light up house and in front of us I couldn’t see anything. He never said anything about where we were going. I just took his faith and fallowed it.
“Try to sleep I will wake you up when we get where we are going”, Michael pleaded to me.
“But..”
“No buts Taylor just do as I ask”, He clasp his hand around mine and I shut my eyes.
Dreaming about Michael was what I always did. This time though I didn’t dream about life with Michael I dreamed life without Michael. Michael was standing in the snow covered forest and I was walking towards him. Before I could reach him a gunshot rung throughout the forest and Michael placed his hand on his stomach and pulled it away. I could see the blood all over his hand and shirt. It was also dripping down his stomach and into the white snow that had fallen. The fear of me not having Michael scared the heck out of me. Michael was frightened too by the screams that came from me. He stopped the car and tried shaking me awake. I grabbed Michael and hugged him tightly while sobbing.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt”, Michael kept asking trying to figure out what was wrong.
He kept trying to push away to see if I was alright, but he failed after I wouldn’t let him go.
“I am fine. I just had a nightmare.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“No not really.”
Michael understood and didn’t want to pressure me into talking about it. I released my hold from him and he escaped my hug of death. I looked out the window as Michael started to drive again, and it was starting to get daylight out. On the dashboard clock it read 6:53 A.M. I felt bad for sleeping that long. I looked out at the unfamiliar road, “Where are we going”, I asked Michael with a great deal of curiosity.
“Well I figured it was time.”
“Time for what?”
“Time for you to meet my family.”
“But they must be sleeping. I don’t want to bug them.”
“Trust me they are not sleeping.”
At that point I figured it would be best to shut up and listen to him.
Before I knew it we were pulling up to a gate. Michael rolled his window down and punched in a number on a key pad. The gate shook with life and announced come on in. Michael pulled up the drive way that was filled with trees. Finally I was able to see his house. His house compared to mine made mine feel like it was a guest house. His house was an Old Modern home with three stories it was painted with a rustic beige color and had rustic lanterns hanging by the entrance. The front door seemed to be nine feet tall. Michael pressed some buttons inside his car but this time instead of opening the gate it opened the garage door. Michael slowly pulled through, parked and shut off his car. He looked over to me and saw I was amazed by his house.
“I don’t bring people home often to meet my parents. Please don't be judgmental .”
“Michael, do we really have to do this?”
“Yes we do.”
Before I could object Michael had already gotten out of the truck, came around, opened my door, and pulled me from the truck. I knew that meeting Michael’s parents could make us or break us and I did not want it to break us. I felt the nervous pain soar throughout me as we got closer and closer to the door. What would happen if they didn’t like me? What if they thought our relationship wouldn’t work? Just every negative thought came to me and wouldn’t leave.
“Wait”, I told Michael before he opened the door, “let me just breathe for a moment.”
“You will be fine”, Michael told me and then kissed me.
I was happy that Michael carried extra cloths with him because I don’t think I could deal explaining why their son was half naked and even though his face was pretty beat up it didn’t look too awfully bad. I Sighed then looked at Michael.
“I am ready”, I leaned forward and gave Michael a big kiss before he opened the door. The door that could lead me to my doom.
Chapter Seven: “Meeting the Bennett's”
I was scared walking into the door. Michael had me by my waist dragging me through the house. We ended up in the dining room where their maid was serving his parents.
"Mom and Dad. I would like you to meet the person I've been talking to you about", Michael had announced our arrival and his parents looked up with a great deal of curiosity.
I was shocked that he had a mom and dad, but I didn't care because if they loved each other that was fine by me. I wasn't judgmental like others. I smiled a full fledge I am happy that you both are in love smile. His mother picked up on my smile and smiled from ear to ear and got up from the table and broke the hold Michael had on me to hug me.
"Nice to meet you darling. I've told Michael several times to bring you home, but he doesn't listen", his mother told me in her sweet dear elderly voice.
Michaels mom was about five foot five, very skinny, very tanned (Probably from working in her yard), and had curly light brown hair to complement her facial complexion.
Michaels dad was about six foot tall, baled with a thin black beard, and he wasn't as tanned as Michaels mom.
I was actually happy to be here I didn't feel out of place nor did I feel like my head was going to get bit off. Michael smiled at me with his smile when his mother and I were going through photo books. She kept pointing at photos and told a story with it. I just smiled and laughed with her.
I didn't realize it, but Michael’s life was so interesting. He played baseball since he could walk and I didn't know it but he had a brother that died at twenty two from a terrible car accident and he had a sister that is twenty that went off into the military. I learned more from Michael’s mom that I did from Michael himself.
Michael pulled me away from his mom to give me a tour of their big three story modern vintage home. He showed me his room, which like Aaron's was about as big as a football field. I was already tired of walking so I jumped into his bed that had canopy over it. I felt like a prince laying in his bed. Michael jumped in after me. He intertwined his legs with mine and grabbed and pulled me where my head was laying on his chest.
"So what are you thinking", He asked me to see how I felt about his parents.
"I'm thinking that you are such a big hypocrite Michael."
"What?! Why?!"
"I couldn't judge them they are so adorable together."
“I guess you are just different unlike other people."
I smiled and he smiled too then licked my nose. I punched his chest and laughed.
Secrets Die With the Young Page 2
