“What would you do if I stopped by?” Taylor asked. Simone only stared in disbelief as she saw Taylor standing here on her porch with a cellular phone held to his ear. The snow swirled around him and a strand of his hair came loose from the ponytail that was at the base of his neck. Inside, Simone felt a tingle race through her body. It was the first time she seen Taylor since they broke up. Actually, they didn’t break up in person, they did it over the phone, and the last time that they were together, they shared something special.

“Uh, Taylor…what a surprise!” she finally said. “What are you doing here, in Pennsylvania, on my front porch, in a blizzard?”

“Well, I’ll explain everything. It’s kinda cold, can I come in?” he asked.

“Oh, of course! Where’s my head? I suppose that because you just popped up that my mind blanked out for a few seconds. Come in.” Simone said, stepping away from the doorway to allow him to enter. Taylor stepped into the entryway and shook the snow from his coat. The collar of his coat was flipped up and Simone saw it. She couldn’t stand to see anyone’s collar flipped up, so she reached up and fixed it, then placed her hand on his chest.

Taylor looked down at her hand in his chest and then into her eyes. “Hi Sim.” He said. She looked into his eyes, then at her hand. She quickly pulled it away and went up the stairs. Taylor followed behind her.

“So Taylor, enlighten me…why exactly are you here?” she asked. Taylor looked at Randy, then back to Simone.

“Could we talk alone?” he asked. She nodded, the looked at Randy.

“Pretend I’m not here.” He smiled.

“I hate you.” Simone mumbled.

“I know.” He called after her. She scowled, then pulled on Taylor’s hand and led him to her room. As their hands touched, Simone felt the magic between them. It was still there. She pulled away and then sat on her bed. Taylor took a seat at her desk chair, turned it backwards and then leaned on the back of it.

“I can’t believe that you just showed up.” She said. He smiled.

“Well, that was the point. I wanted to surprise you.” He said. “Plus, I need to talk to you and I figured that it would be better this way instead of arguing on the phone or something.”

“You certainly did surprise me, that’s for sure.” Simone said. Their eyes connected and she felt that connection that she used to feel when their eyes connected and that she felt when their hands touched. “You do know that I am involved with someone right now, don’t you?”

“Now I do.” He said. “Who? Jonathan?”

“Actually, yeah.” She said. Taylor grunted with disgust. “Anyway, enough about me…anything new with you?” Taylor shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, after I turned 17, the band broke up. But it wasn’t too big of a loss. I saw it coming anyway.” He said.

“I’m sorry that you guys fell apart.” Simone said. She knew how important music was to him and she had hoped that he would always stay involved with it.

“It was going to happen sooner or later. But I’m still writing songs, hopefully I’ll go solo some day. Anyway, Ike was too busy with his girlfriend--”

“Isaac? Girlfriend?” Simone interupted. Taylor nodded. She felt a little tug of jealousy. Isaac had always had a little crush on her. She thought back to the day at the baseball game and when he had kissed her. That was the same day that Taylor had kissed her, too. She did feel a little jealousy because Ike did like her.

“Yeah, believe it or not. But she’s kinda…different.” Taylor explained. “None of us really like her too much. The first time we met her, she had unruly black hair with red chunks in it.”

“Are you serious? That is so 1998.” Simone said, giggling. “What about the 2nd time you met her?”

“The second time we met her, she had her eyebrow pierced and her hair was blue. I don’t know what Ike sees in her, but it must be something to stay with her. None of us really got to know her. Then again, none of us really wanted to get to know her.” Taylor said. Simone was shocked. His family was so incredibly nice. She threw a pillow at him.

“That is so evil!” she laughed.

“Well, you’re laughing about it.” He said in protest. She laughed again.

“What about Zac? What’s up with him? Is he still with Angela?” Simone asked. She remembered that he was with a little girl named Angela when she went to visit them the previous summer. She was living with them because her mother had died and she didn’t have anywhere else to live. Simone thought that it was so romantic. They looked so cute together. Angela was perfect for Zac and he was perfect for her. She hoped they were still with each other.

“Yeah, still with Angie. I don’t think they are ever going to break up. Then again, I never thought that we would have broken up, either.” Taylor said cautiously.

Simone looked up at him. He was looking at her. The look that he always used to have. Even though it was just a little over a year since their break up, she still knew all of his expressions and what they meant. She knew that that she had to have a simular look on her face, too. Taylor shifted his eyes around the room. He felt uncomfortable knowing that she was involved with Jonathan when they were sharing ‘that’ look. His eyes fell upon the pull string of her ceiling fan.

“You still have it.” He said. She followed his gaze to the ring. She smiled.

“Yeah.” She said. She had to keep it there to remind her of everything. Simone knew what Taylor was thinking and he knew what she was thinking. Taylor stood from the desk chair, went over to the bed and kneeled beside her.

As she watched him get up from the chair, she knew that something was going to happen. It was weird to think about because she was with Jonathan. She knew that she liked him a lot, but there was just a special feeling that she was experiencing with Taylor right then that she never felt while she was with Jonathan. She looked into his eyes. Those never-forger-how-blue-they-are-eyes.

Taylor reached up and placed his hand on the nape of her neck. She knew what was going to happen and she didn’t do anything to prevent it from happening. She closed her eyes as she saw Taylor lean forward to kiss her.