August sighed deeply. She was tired. And she ached all over. But she was content, and had been for a while. Dinner was gone; it had disappeared twenty minutes after it came; and after the cardboard box had been tossed over the back of the couch Taylor's arm had readily gone around August's shoulders. She was happy just the way she was, cheek pressed against his chest, watching Empire Records on TV. Taylor was quiet, though, and it was unnerving her. He was never that quiet, not even when he was in a mushy mood.
"Tay..."
He jumped, pulled out of his little mini-coma.
"Yeah?"
"Umm...when I go back, like, tomorrow, will you just come with me and stay? That way...you know...safety in numbers, I guess."
He looked at her strangely for a minute, and said softly,
"Of course I will." The tone of voice he had told August that he would have gone to the moon and back for her. August didn't even flinch, and instead crawled into his lap like she remembered doing with her older brother, Adam, and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Tay...what's wrong?"
He snapped from the little trance that had been enveloping him and gazed at her. He twisted a lock of her thick brown hair between his fingers, thought about his answer, then leaned over and kissed her gently.
"Nothing, Coke. Nothing. I love you."
August nuzzled her face into his neck and murmured,
"Damnit...you're almost as bad as Adam..."
Tay looked down at her, wondering what the hell she was talking about.
"Pardon?"
August glanced up. Her hair fell in her eyes, making her look extremely vulnerable at that point.
"Right...I didn't tell you about Adam. He's my brother...and he went to university before my mom died. He goes to Queens...I don't hear much from him anymore. We were really close...he taught me everything I'll ever need to know, in an essence..."
Tay stroked his hand through her hair and read what her eyes were telling him. She was aching so bad...and he didn't know how to fix it this time.
August shoved a key into the doorknob and shook her head when it pushed open without having to be unlocked. She rolled her eyes, and led Tay into the amazingly clean front hallway. There wasn't a worn leather jacket hanging on the coatrack; no motorcycle helmet on the stairs, and black leather cowboy boots didn't reside in the corner. When that sunk into August's memory bank, she let out a whoosh - a sigh of relief. She kicked her shoes off into the corner, and pulled on Tay's hand. He followed her up the stairs to her room. A black daybed was pushed up against the right wall, with a dresser beside the door, a series of ceiling-to-floor shelves in the front left corner nearest the window, a dresser with a mirror beside the closet door, and finally, a bookcase between the shelves and dresser. A small tv sat atop the bookcase, a video-tape player on one of the shelves, and a collection of video-tapes filled another shelf. August sunk into the unmade bed.
"Ah...home. How good it feels to be here alone."
Tay looked at the walls and gulped slightly. There were posters everywhere - all of Hanson, save a humongous Marvin Martian poster. (That was my room, folks. Ain't it nice?) August chuckled.
"I'm sorry, Tay...I don't mean to appear obsessed."
She tugged on his hand, and he sat down beside her.
"Hmm...here's a thought. Why don't I go get some food, you pick a movie, and we can veg out up here?"
Tay nodded.
"Sure...sounds good."
August disappeared out the door, and Tay sat back against the metal bedframe. He glanced at the stack of tapes, ignoring Tulsa, Tokyo, and the Middle Of Nowhere. He scanned through the titles and finally mentally picked one out - Scream. August returned a few minutes later, tossing him a can of Dr. Pepper. She dropped a bag of Doritos on the bed, and dug around under the bed, coming up with a huge bag of Very Cherry Jelly Belly jellybeans. Tay's eyes damn near popped out of their sockets, and August wordlessly handed him the bag. He grinned, stuffing a handful of jellybeans into his mouth. She just took Scream from him, stuck it in the vcr, and pressed play.
"I better get at least a quarter of that bag," she remarked. He pouted, but handed the bag back so she could take some. Having gotten that finshed, he pulled her into his lap and they started cuddling.
"I'll send you a copy. BAM! Bitch goes down. I'll send you a copy. BAM! Syd! Super Bitch! You are so cool." (N.B. Super Bitch Supreme is my nickname. We all must thank Jenn, better known as Tatum, for this line from Scream. Good friends provide these things for other good friend's stories. : )-|-<) August nuzzled her face into Tay's neck, about to fall asleep. He wanted to get up. His back was cramped, he was tired, and he really had to take a piss. But one look at her and he decided it could all wait. Well, he might have problems with the last one, but he could sure as hell try. August finally let out the yawn.
"Die, Tatum, die," she mumbled. (SORRY, JENN! NO OFFENSE! I JUST HATE TATUM WITH A PASSION!) She closed her eyes. Tay gently kissed her cheek, then whispered in her ear,
"I love you..."
She looked up sleepily, and whispered back,
"Do I make you happy?"
He smiled.
"In the words of Green Day, I'm having the time of my life," he said. She grinned.
"The time of my life," she agreed.
Adam Boyd's response when asked why he wouldn't go out with the author:
"She's damn crazy..."