Page 47 of Mountain Pine
“Does it fix period cramps?” I tease.
Her laugh makes my heart spin.
“Happy Birthday,” I say and kiss the top of her head.
She giggles again. That’s it. Giggles and ignores the incessant pounding of my heart under her head as she lays with me on her bed while we watch a man hack up a bunch of people with an axe.
Once it’s over, she’s asleep and I don’t know if I should leave out the window, creep out the door, or try to push my luck and stay the night.
When I try to move, she stirs and then her eyes crack open. “Hi.”
The smile that spreads across her face has me grinning too.
“Hi,” I whisper back.
Taylor rolls over and stretches. “I feel so much better. Guess the meds kicked in.”
I didn’t know she’d taken anything.
“It’s still my birthday for another…” She checks her phone. “Hour.”
“Wanna go celebrate?”
She glances at the door and then gives me a devious smile. “Yeah. Let’s leave through the window so we don’t get caught.”
I help her down the side of the house and we get in my truck. Mr. Larson gave me this beater because the landscapers don’t like using it anymore. He also gave me a cell phone that’s tied to the business. It’s kinda shitty thatI’m using these things to sneak his daughter out.
Not that I’m reconsidering my actions.
“So ummmm… I know a place we can go that’s still open, if you’re up for a drive.”
“Let’s do it!”
She doesn’t ask questions because she trusts me. After a quick text to the group chat, I take her up to Dean’s where they’re hanging out by the bonfire. Taylor keeps staring at her ring for a lot of the drive and I don’t think she realizes where we are even heading.
“We’re here.” I announce, pulling up to the long driveway to Dean’s cabins.
Taylor leans forward to see everyone jumping and howling and there’s a huge bonfire on the left. Carly runs up to the truck carrying some balloons that say Happy Birthday on them. “You finally made it to your party, bitch!”
Taylor gawks and hops out, slamming the truck door shut and everyone gives her hugs and obnoxiously sings Happy Birthday to her and I just sit in my truck for a moment and wonder what it would be like to have Taylor as my girlfriend. What would it be like to have Taylor as my wife.
“Holy shit!” she squeals with delight.
This girl is truly surprised that her friends would try to make her birthday special. It kind of breaks my heart a little because I think she believes she’s not worth celebrating. Any bit of kindness you show Taylor, she’ll make into a big deal.
Nick picks her up and swings her around in a bear hug. “Happy Birthday!”
“I can’t believe you guys did all this for me!”
Nick sets her down and I know full goddamn well he’s about to give me all the credit because the fool can’t keep his mouth shut. To stop that from happening, I hop out ofthe truck and make a big fuss that I’m starving, and that Taylor should eat too and is there any pizza left and oh hey, what kinds of chips are those?
Carly hooks her arm with Taylor, and they trail off laughing and steal the entire tray of brownies from the table.
By two in the morning, I’m melting into a coma. This was a long day and my eyelids must weigh at least twenty pounds each.
“Here,” Taylor says, sitting next to me for the first time since we got here. “I saved you one.”
She presents a brownie wrapped in a napkin. “Don’t tell Nick. I said they were all gone.”
