Sure, she loved Taylor, but when he suggested she come back to Tulsa with him, she was shocked. She still had three months of school left and she wanted to be with her friends during her senior year. It seemed heartless of Taylor to ask her to leave. And before he even popped the question, she was thinking the same thing. She realized that they must be serious enough because she was thinking about it. But was she ready to handle all of it?
When he had displayed the ring, the beautiful overwhelming ring, she knew that he was serious about it. That’s when she knew that she would be going against fate if she would say no.
The quote “If you love something, let it go and if it comes back to you then it was meant to be” kept ringing in her ears. How true it was in this situation!
“Excuse me,” she heard Taylor ask. She looked up and saw him standing beside her seat. “Is this seat taken?” he asked, referring to the seat next to her, which was his. Simone smiled.
“Yeah, actually, it is. It belongs to my fiancé. He should be back soon. He went to use the loo.” She replied. Taylor stepped over her and sat down in his seat.
“Lucky me, eh?” he said, then put his hand over hers and squeezed it.
“Yeah, lucky you.” She agreed, leaning over to rest her head on his shoulder and rubbing her hand on his leg.
“You know that I love you, don’t you?”
“You better love me.” She said without moving. “You know that I love you, too, right?”
“If you didn’t love me, then you wouldn’t be here with me right now.” Taylor answered. Inhaling deeply, Simone closed her eyes and dreamt of what their future would hold for the rest of the flight.
With all of their luggage in their hands, they approached the house full of smiles. Diana opened the door, and expecting to see her warm smile, Simone was surprised to see “that look” that all mothers possessed. “That look” full of anger that didn’t need to be expressed with words.
“Where the hell have you been?!” she exploded roughly. “Do you know how worried I have been? ‘Oh, I’ll be back in a week’ you told me. It’s been 4 weeks! Jordan Taylor Hanson, I am very disappointed.” She went on and on, but all the while, she proceeded to give Taylor a hug, then continued her raving. “We’ve been bombarded with snow and I had no idea where you were or who you were with or what you were doing. I’m surprised that I didn’t have a heart attack!”
“I love you, too, Mom.” Was all he said.
“Yeah yeah...” she said. Then she noticed Simone for the first time. “Simone honey! It’s so good to see you! I should have guesses that Tay was coming to see you when he said that he was going east. Goodness knows that he was in a terrible state after the two of you separated.” She saw the diamond ring on my finger. “And it looks to me that you have moved on. It’s so great that you are going to remain friends.”
“Well, I haven’t really moved on.” Simone replied, grabbing Tay’s hand and intertwined her fingers with his.
“Oh,” was all Diana said at first, then her eyes let up, as if she just caught on. “OH! That’s simply wonderful Congratulations!” she enveloped them both into a big hug. Surprised by her reaction, Taylor hugged his mother back, obviously glad that she was happy. “I guess that I won’t have to make up the spare bedroom eh?” she asked, nudging Taylor with her elbow and winked at me.
“We’re tired from the flight. Try to keep everyone quiet so we can take a nap, okay?” Taylor said. His mother nodded, then retreated to the kitchen.
It’s been so long since Simone had been to Taylor’s house, but she still remembered everything perfectly. Their new house wasn’t exactly new anymore, but she still considered it new because she had only been there once. Then again, she was only at their old house once, too, but their ‘new’ house was bigger than the other one, and Taylor had the privacy of his own room. She went to his room, carrying her heavy suitcase, opened the door and flipped on the light switch.
She stood frozen. Taylor froze behind her, too. There was someone in his bed. Actually, there were two somebody’s in his bed.
“Tay? You’re home early!” Zac said, sitting up, while adjusting his shirt, the button and zipper of his pants and fixing his hair.
“Zac! Get outta here! And take Angie with you!” Taylor shouted. “And I’m not home early! I’m 3 weeks late! I can’t believe you ... and in my bed? What the hell is wrong with you? You could’ve gotten caught be Ike, or Mom, or one the girls! Or even Mac! You know how much he looks up to you and admire everything that you do!” Taylor lectured as Zac and Angela cleaned up and got out. Simone had to stifle a laugh. After they left, Taylor shut and locked the door.
“Did that remind you of anything?” she asked him. He smiled, pulled her over and kissed her. They kissed again and then leaned back on the bed and continued their passionate kiss. With Taylor leaning over her, so many memories flooded Simone’s head. She quickly reached down to unbuckle and unzip Taylor’s pants. After their spontaneous heated adventure, they eventually got around to taking their nap.