Brandon and I fell for each other–fast; except for when we had to go to work, we were pretty much inseparable. We spent most of our time either out around the town or at my place, since his parents’ house was so crowded. I could honestly see myself with him forever; I was that crazy for him.
We were officially dating now, but I still hadn’t told Mom much of anything about him. She knew I’d met him, but I hadn’t told her really how serious things were getting. I wasn’t really ready for anyone to know; I didn’t want to deal with people telling me that I’m too young or that I should slow things down. I was happier with Brandon than I’d ever been with anyone.
Then one night when Brandon was walking me home from his parent’s house, I paused on the porch and whispered in his ear asking if he’d like to come in and stay for a while. He looked into my eyes with a sheepish grin silently asking what we were both thinking.
We went inside and stood somewhat awkwardly in the kitchen for a while, neither of us really sure of what we wanted to do.
He pulled me close to him and kissed me passionately, then asked if I wanted to take this back to my bedroom, to which I nodded. I was sure of us and sure that I wanted to be with him, but I was still extremely nervous.
We lay cuddling on the bed for a while staring into each other eyes. My heart felt like it was going to hammer out of my chest.
He turned and smiled at me and said, “Mira, there’s no one in this world I’d rather be with than you. You’re the sweetest, prettiest, funniest, smartest, most wonderful girl I’ve ever met, and I want nothing less than to spend the rest of my life with you. You’re my everything.”
I’m sure my cheeks blushed completely scarlet, but I had a grin from ear to ear on my face. He always had this knack for making me smile and making me happy, no matter what.
But that’s not the only emotion he evoked in me. I glanced up at him with a mischievous grin, and I’ll leave it to your imagination to infer where things went from there…
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The next morning, I woke up to find the other side of the bed empty and the smell of pancakes in the air. Oh wow did that smell good. I hadn’t had real, cooked food since I’d lived with Mom. I tossed on some clothes, tied my hair up quickly, and wandered into the kitchen.
“Good morning sleepy-head. I almost thought you weren’t going to wake up by the time these were done,” he said to me with a smile on his face while he flipped the pancake over in the skillet.
“There’s no way I’d miss pancakes for breakfast,” I responded.
He dished me up a plate with some cinnamon apples and brought it over to me at the table, then went to dish up his own. I turned my thoughts over in my head for a minute while I took a bite of pancake (they were absolutely delicious) and then blurted out, “I really don’t want you to go.”
“I’m only going just down the street. It’s not like we aren’t going to see each other again later.”
“I know, but I want more than that. I want you to stay here with me…permanently.”
“Permanently?” He flipped his pancake onto his plate and then turned to stare at me with a confused, but hopeful, look on his face.
“Yes,” I paused, took a deep breath, and gathered all of my courage up. “Brandon, you’re the most amazing thing in my life, and I know I might be rushing things, but I don’t see a reason to wait when I don’t see myself ever wanting anyone but you. Will you move in with me?”
The huge smile that spread across his face as soon as I said that was all the answer I needed. He walked over to me, pulled me up out of my chair, and held me in a long, tender kiss, then said softly, “Of course sweetheart. There’s nothing else I’d rather do. I just wish I had more to give you.”
“Just you is enough.”
After breakfast, I picked up the phone to give my mom a call. With Brandon moving in now, she should probably meet him and get to know him. I dialed her number and waited for her to pick up the phone.
“Hello?” she said through what sounded like dry sobs.
“Mom? It’s me. What’s wrong?”
“Oh honey, I just found out, myself. I hadn’t had the chance to call you.”
“What is it?” At this point my worrying was kicking into full gear; I never liked to hear my mother upset.
“Aunt Rachael passed away last night.”
“Oh, Mom. I’m so sorry.” Truth be told, I’d never known my great aunt Rachael very well, but Mom had been pretty close to her.
“Cousin Suzie is handling the funeral arrangements,” another sob. “Oh, I’m sorry sweetheart; what did you call about?”
“Uh…” I couldn’t tell her now when she’s so distraught. I’d just have to find another time to pop the news. “Nothing special, I just wanted to see how you are.”
“That’s sweet of you,” sob, “but I think I should probably go lay down and clean myself up before Matthew sees me like this. I look like a tear-stained wreck.”
“That’s fine, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Bye, honey.”
“Bye, Mom.”
I told Brandon what had happened when I got off of the phone, and he was one-hundred percent supportive and did his best to make me feel better. We could find another time to tell Mom about him moving in.
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The rest of the week passed fairly uneventfully. Brandon got all of his stuff moved in and we both went to work each day (he worked as a scullion at Cherry’s Cafe). Friday I got to substitute teach for Mr. Dodge’s class because he’d gotten sick that morning. There was a field trip to the science facility planned for that day that he didn’t want the kids to miss, so I got to take them myself.
Everyone had a blast, and I even learned a few things, too. We got a glimpse into their research with the space-time continuum and spectral essences; the kids were more impressed with the robots department, though.
Starting the day after he moved in with me, Brandon started getting these mystery phone calls that he’d always step outside to take or ignore completely.
When I finally confronted him about it, he responded, “It’s this girl that I was sort-of, not really, seeing before I met you. We weren’t dating or anything. I met her while I was at the Water Hole a couple days after my family moved here and we flirted a little, but that was it. Now she’s calling me every day and keeps badgering me as to why I won’t go out with her, even when I tell her I’m with someone else. She just doesn’t quit.”
I giggled a little. I’m not really the jealous type so I found the situation more humorous than anything else. “Who is it?”
“Uh, Corinne-something.”
“Corinne McCrary!?”
“Yea, that’s it.”
“Wow! How could you have flirted with her? She’s freaky. She was in my graduating class, or she would have been if she’d passed her classes. She failed a few and had to get her diploma after summer school. She’s been weird since elementary school.”
“Heh,” he grunted. “Well, aren’t I glad that I’m with you and not her?”
“You’d better be!” He scooped me up into his arms, and we both laughed.
“Oh come on, baby. You know you’re the only one I want.” I blushed and smiled at him.
Since it was Saturday we decided to go to the gym for the day. Brandon had been wanting to work out more to get into shape, and I figured I could go swimming while he was doing his thing.
Except that when he stopped to kiss me before going upstairs to the weight room, Corinne stepped up behind us just in time to see.
She was infuriated, naturally, and tried to tell me off, but no crazy chick was going to shout at me for kissing my boyfriend. She should have listened when he told her that he was taken.
“He’s with me. What do you think you’re doing putting your hands on him. You keep your lips away from him or you’re going to get slapped into the next county–” she threatened.
“Listen, psycho, I don’t know what alternate reality you actually think Brandon would ever date you in, but he’s mine. Got that? Mine, and I’m never giving him up. So back off, stop calling him, and leave us both alone.”
“Hmmmph.”
I was pretty afraid that she was going to hit me, considering she had twice the muscles I do, but when I turned on my heel and stomped out the door, she didn’t follow. I thought I heard her mumble something about scheming gnomes as I left. Looked like I wasn’t going to be swimming that day, but I was beyond happy that Brandon was going home with me and not anyone else.
The Taylor Legacy 