THE START OF A LONG JOURNEY

“I’m gonna miss you so much,” cried my mom, hugging me.

“Geez, mom. It’s only for 3 weeks!” I laughed.

“I know, I know…” her voice trailed off. Then she looked over my shoulder, saw my little brother and ran over to him and pulled the whole routine on him. I had to laugh as my brother gave me that ‘save me’ look.

My bother, Jon, and I were going to our dad’s for 3 weeks. It wasn’t really a big deal to us, but for our mother, it was pretty hard. She hated being alone, and she definitely hated us being so far away, and she hated my dad even more because of all of this. They were getting a divorce, but none of us really wanted to talk about it.

Finally, both my brother and me managed to get to our dad’s car without mom smothering us. As we piled our stuff into the car, I grinned at him, “You ready for that long ass drive, kid?”

He smiled back at me, “No! I just want to get some damn sleep, get to dad’s, and…uh…sleep some more I guess.”

I laughed at him. “You are such a dork!”

“Bite me!” he laughed back. I rolled my eyes and turned to see where my dad was. I saw him talking to my mom. I sighed and yelled, “Dad! Are we leaving or what?”

“Yeah, just a minute!”

Jon and I looked at each other, rolled our eyes, and sighed. We both knew that a minute was more like an hour.

“Damn it.” I muttered to myself. Then a light bulb turned on in my head.

I walked over to my dad and casually asked, “Dad, can I have the keys?”

He blinked and realized that I was standing right next to him, holding my hand out. “Huh? Oh…yeah, sure, here,” he replied and dropped his keys in my hand.

“Thanks.” I walked back to the car and said to Jon, “Hey, Jon, get in the car! We’re leaving.”

He smiled at me, knowing what I was doing, and jumped in the backseat and buckled up. I went around to the driver’s side and jumped in and started the car.

I smiled and looked at my dad and saw no reaction, but my mother was looking annoyed, which made me smile bigger. Jon was in the backseat giggling.

“Goodbye, dad!” I yelled, “Have a nice vacation!” and I shifted the car into reverse and slowly started backing out of the driveway. This got a reaction out of my dad.

“Hey!” He yelled and he quickly gave my mom a hug and ran and jumped in the car. “You don’t have your license, yet. I’m gonna have to come along for the ride if you’re gonna drive,” he smiled, and I smiled back. ‘Whoa! He’s actually gonna let me drive’ I thought to myself.

“Bye, mom! Love you!” I called out the window as I backed out the driveway. She weakly smiled and waved. I could tell she was going to cry as soon as we were out of sight. We all could tell.

CHAPTER 2

CUTE GUYS, HUH?

That next morning when I sleepily woke up on the couch, my dad greeted me with a smile and homemade pancakes. “Wow, dad! Since when did you learn to cook pancakes?” I asked as I sat down at the table.

“It’s amazing what you learn when you need to.”

I nodded and started eating. ‘Hard to believe you’re such a jerk, dad. Keep this up and I might actually like ya.’

“Oh, hey, Tiff! Did I tell ya that my neighbors have some relatives visiting? They got a couple cute boys your age, and I think you might like them.”

My jaw dropped. My dad was trying to hook me up with a guy? And he claims they’re cute? ‘There’s something wrong here’ I thought, ‘This isn’t my dad! It’s…like…a mother in disguise or something!’

When I didn’t reply, my dad continued, “The whole family will be coming over tonight for dinner.”

‘Now I know I’m dreaming’ “That’s cool dad…but who’s cooking? And if it’s you…will it be edible and will I like it?” Dad knew I was way picky about my food, but sometimes he didn’t care and made me try something new or starve. Not all bad, but it pissed me off sometimes.

“I’ll be cooking. And it’s gonna be bar-b-que. Burgers and hot dogs.”

‘Sounds good to me.’ I thought and finished my breakfast. “I’m gonna go take a shower,” I said just as Jon woke up, surprised to see me up so early. “Morning, J,” I said cheerfully as he stared at me in shock. He shook his head. “Morning.”

****

“They’ll be here any second!” My dad hollered.

I rolled my eyes and touched up my makeup and fixed my hair. ‘Wow! I look good for once!’ I smiled to myself. ‘Now these guys better be cute. And if not, they better be damn sweet.’ Jon’s laughing broke my thoughts.

“What?” I asked, smiling.

“Nothing…it’s just that you look like Britney Spears gone punk.”

I laughed. “Man, if you ever say that again, I swear I will kick your scrawny ass! I look nothing like her!” And it was true. I had dark red dyed hair that hung just below my shoulders, green-gold eyes, mild tan, and no belly button ring (yet!), my body was completely real, and I didn’t have Justin Timberlake. Although…that last part wouldn’t be all that bad. I smiled to myself.

“Tiffany! Jon! They’re here!”

“Great,” I mumbled to myself. I hated meeting new people. I hated being shy! “Come on, J, let’s get this over with.” He slowly nodded and we walked to the front door. I could tell he hated this as much as I did.

When we arrived in the living room, I looked up from the floor, and the most amazing pair of ice blue eyes greeted me. “Whoa!’ Then I did an overall look of everyone in the room and just about died. ‘Oh…that’s why my dad’s been acting so weird. He’s been hiding Hanson from me next doo…oh my god…Taylor Hanson is standing right in front of me!! Ok…don’t scream, Tiff…don’t puke either…that would be bad…just be normal…cuz they’re normal…and gorgeous and Taylor…is standing in front of me! HOLY…’

“You must be Tiffany,” a voice said, breaking my thoughts. ‘Wow…she’s cute’ he thought.

I shook my head and gazed at Taylor. “Yeah. Hello, Taylor.” We smiled at each other and he shook my hand.

“I hear you’re a big fan of ours.”

‘Wow…they’re right. He’s hotter in person…and smells good too’ I looked over at my brother who was also in disbelief, but still talking to Jessica. I smiled back at Taylor, “Yeah, actually I am. Who told you that?” ‘Stupid! DUH! Of course your father told him, you frickin dumbass!’

“Oh,” he chuckled, “You’re dad did. He flipped when he met us! He was all like, ‘Oh my god! My daughter is a huge fan of yours! She’s gonna die when she gets here!’” I laughed a bit, knowing I was blushing a little. “Want to meet the rest of the family?” He asked, grinning.

‘God, I hope there’s nothing hanging out of my nose…why is he looking at me like that? Damn, I need to quit being paranoid’ “Yeah! I’d love to!”

****

“So…do you like it out here?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I love the mountains down here. It’s so peaceful!”

“Yeah, it’s awesome. My bothers and me love to come out here and relax. Escape from fans and media and all that stuff. If they ever found out we were here though…it wouldn’t be so peaceful.” Taylor smiled as he looked off into the distant sunset, just as a gentle breeze blew his hair back a bit.

‘Could he possibly get any hotter? Haven’t I said that before? I think he did get hotter…’ “Yeah, I know.” I said quickly. “So, how long are you gonna be here?”

He scowled a little bit, thinking, and looked into my eyes. “Depends. How long are you gonna be here?” He asked with a sly grin.

Before I could answer, Zac came running up behind us, and tackled Tay to the ground. It scared me a second…but then I realized that it was just Zac, and I laughed. Then, both Tay and Zac started laughing and wrestling around. Zac’s constant pinning of Taylor and screaming, “Say uncle!” had me rolling on the ground laughing at them.

When they ran out of breath, they rolled onto their backs on the grass trying to stop laughing and breathe normally again.

“So…” Zac said breathlessly with a smile, “What’s up?”

Tay looked up towards me, with a heart-melting smile. “Not much…but…ya know…there’s something I just gotta do right now.”

Both Zac and I got confused looks on our faces and we looked at each other then back at Taylor. Before either of us could do or say anything, Tay jumped up, ran, and tackled me to the ground and tickled me.

“Oh my god!” I laughed, yelling, and trying to fight him off me. “Stop, dude! Holy crap!”

This resistance only made him tickle me even more. Zac busted out laughing and he jumped up and ran over and grabbed my hands so I couldn’t fight Tay, who was just cracking up.

“Zac!!! Oh, my god! Let go!!!” I yelled, laughing and wriggling the rest of my body to get Taylor off me, even though I was enjoying this.

“Okay,” Tay laughed and stopped tickling me. “Okay, Zac, let her go. She’s been tortured enough.” Taylor continued laughing as he rolled off me and into the grass next to me.

“That was fun.” Zac said with a satisfied smile.

“Yeah it was,” said Taylor, chuckling. ‘Tons of fun’ he thought.

I crossed my arms over my chest, “Yeah, guys, tons of fun. It was a riot. Let me tell you…” I said sarcastically.

Zac smiled and sat in the grass next to me, on the opposite side of Taylor. “That’s a good sport!” He lightly punched my shoulder.

“Shut up!” I whined.

‘Hmm…maybe I should leave these two alone,’ Zac thought, ’Tay seems to like her.’

As if Tay was reading his mind, he gave Zac a look that said, ‘go away.’

“I’m gonna go see if there’s any food left,” Zac quickly said as he jumped up and ran off.

I turned to my side to face Taylor. “What’s his big hurry?”

Taylor laughed looking at the sky, “With Zac, you never really quite know.” Then he rolled on his side to face me and we both shyly smiled at each other.

I looked up over to our families in the distance and saw that they were all enjoying themselves. Even my brother looked completely happy for the first time in a long time.

“What are you smiling about?”

“Nothing, it’s just…I just haven’t seen my brother this happy in awhile.”

“Oh,” he said quietly and looked down towards his hand in front of him, then back up to me. “Um…if you don’t mind my asking…why exactly did your parents…” he trailed off.

“Get a divorce?” I finished.

He quietly nodded. “Well, umm…” I cleared my throat and sat up, hugging my knees close to me, and Tay inched a bit closer to me, still laying down. I smiled a little. “Well, basically, my dad…was a jerk. He treated both me and my mom like crap. He never laid a hand on us or anything like that. He just liked to cheat on my mom and then pretend I wasn’t around.”

“And what about your brother?” He asked quietly as he slowly sat up next to me. Our shoulders were millimeters apart.

I chuckled a bit. “What about him? He’s my dad’s favorite! My brother can do nothing wrong in my dad’s eyes. It must be that whole father-son bond thing.”

“That still don’t make it right though.”

“Oh, I know that. But I guess my dad is finally paying for it. He hates being alone out here.”

Taylor quietly nodded and reached for my hand. I gazed into his eyes and smiled and rested my head on his shoulder. ‘Geez. Only Taylor Hanson could get this outta me so fast.’

“Taylor! Tiffany! It’s time to get inside!” Walker yelled from the distance.

Both Taylor and me sighed. “I guess we better get going,” Tay said quietly.

I lifted my head off his shoulder and looked up at the sky. “Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars before.” There were millions of small twinkling lights in the black sky.

Tay also looked up and smiled. “Yeah, it’s beautiful isn’t it?” ‘About as beautiful as her’

I smiled. “Yeah, but we better go before we get in trouble.”

“But you have to make a wish first!” Tay said with a grin, looking into my eyes and squeezing my hand.

“But…I already did!” ‘And god, it had better come true’ I hoped.

“Oh…well…what was it?” he asked with a sly grin.

“I can’t tell you because then it won’t come true.”

“Ah, yes…but you never know. Is it something I can help you with?”

I smiled. I knew what he was thinking. “Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious, I guess.”

“Well, then, if you must know. You might be able to help.” I smiled.

“Really?” His voice squeaked a little and he shifted in his seat. ‘Oh god, I squeaked…how embarrassing!’

“Yeah, really!” I giggled.

“Can I take a guess to what it is?” ‘This is it Taylor! Don’t screw it up now!’ “Yeah, go ahead,” I said with a smile.

“Okay.” He brought his hand away from mine and brought it to my cheek and gently pulled my face closer to his and pressed his lips against mine.

“Come on you two! Quit making out and get home!” yelled Ike, sounding pretty annoyed for some reason.

Tay and me quickly jumped away from each other and smiled. “We…uh…better get going,” Tay said softly through a smile. I could also tell that he was blushing…but then again, so was I.

“Yeah,” I replied, getting to my feet, “Let’s go.”

We smiled at each other as he took my hand in his, and we slowly began walking home.

CHAPTER 3

THE SEED HAS BEEN PLANTED

“So, Tiff…I guess you liked the surprise?”

“Oh yeah! Oh my god, dad! That was the surprise of my life!”

He laughed, “I figured it would be!”

I smiled. “You figured right!” And without thinking, I gave my dad a big hug for the first time in years.

****

“You know what, Tay? Tiffany is pretty cute!” exclaimed Ike. ‘Very cute’ Ike thought.

Taylor smiled, “Yeah, I noticed.”

Zac then walked into the room after he overheard what his brothers were talking about and started making kissing noises. Ike laughed as Taylor turned a deep red.

Moments later, Taylor was laughing too, when Zac started moaning “Oh, Taylor! Oh! It’s so…small!” Taylor grabbed the pillow off his bed and threw it at his little brother. “Shut up, Zac!”

Zac smiled and sat on the floor facing Taylor and Ike on the bed. “So, Tay, buddy ol’ pal, what’s up?”

“Not much really…”

“Liar,” Ike challenged. “Tell us what happened!”

“What makes you think anything happened?” Tay already knew it was obvious something happened just by his face and his brothers knowing him way too well. He shook his head and lay down on the bed. “God, you two are worse than a couple of girls who just love gossip!”

“So? Come on! Tell us! I know you’re hiding something!” Zac whined. ‘God, maybe I shouldn’t have left them alone! This is torture!’

“Yeah! Tell us! We’re you’re brothers!” Ike whined.

“Best friends…only bester!” Zac continued.

Taylor rolled his eyes. His brothers got so annoying when it came to girls. “Fine, you big babies! All I did was kiss her.” ‘And it was great…’

Zac and Ike smiled. They loved getting this kind of stuff out of their brother. “And?” Ike asked.

“And what? I just told you what happened!”

Zac rolled his eyes and jumped up on the bed. “And…do you like her? Goodness! You know what kind of info we must have!”

“Oh,” Taylor smiled and looked out the nearby window at the moon. “Yeah, I like her.” ‘I like her a lot…a whole lot…’

CHAPTER 4

JUST TELL ME!

The phone began to ring and woke me up. I looked at the clock. ‘Noon…geez, and I’m still tired.’

I got up and answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey gorgeous! What’s up?”

I smiled. “Hey Tay. Nuthin much…I just woke up actually.”

“Sleepy-head! Well…get up and all that stuff! I have a surprise for you!!”

God, I hated surprises! “Tay…what is it?”

“If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

“I know! Please tell me!”

“Nope, sorry, babe. Get ready and I’ll be there in about half an hour.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled. “Okay, fine. This better be good!”

“You’ll love it, I promise.”

“Okay then. See ya later then.”

“Bye babe.”

I smiled and hung up the phone, and sighed. Taylor was too awesome for words. I really liked him a lot.

I jumped in the shower, got dressed, and did my makeup all in just under half an hour. ‘That’s a new record! Haha.’ I thought to myself. ‘Goodness…no one is home. I guess Jon went to work with my dad.’ I shrugged and walked out to the front porch just as Tay walked up to the house.

“Hey babe!” He said with a smile.

“Hey sweetie!” I replied smiling back. He took me in his arms and gently kissed my cheek. “So, Taylor…what is this big surprise?”

“Just hold on, damnit! Geez, we have to drive a while first.”

I was a bit confused. “Ok…if you say so. Can I get a hint to the surprise?”

“Yeah, of course,” he said smiling and taking my hand as we began to walk to his car, “The hint is…you’ll like it.”

I laughed. “God, you are such a butt-head!”

“I know.”

****

We spent the afternoon at the mall shopping. He would not tell me what the surprise was, and he was being really weird about it too.

“Taylor…seriously…when am I gonna get this surprise?”

He looked at his watch, “When we go home in about 15 minutes.”

I sighed. I couldn’t figure out at all what the surprise could be! ‘Maybe it’s a car…that would be nice. Or maybe it could be…I don’t know! And I don’t think Taylor would get me a frickin car after only knowing me for 2 days. What could it be?’

I found out soon enough.

CHAPTER 5

SURPRISES, SURPRISES

We pulled onto our street, and I began to get a bit anxious. “Tay, just tell me now what it is! PLEASE!?”

He just sat there and grinned. “What? You can’t wait for 2 more minutes?”

“NOO!!!” I whined.

Taylor just laughed.

We pulled into the driveway, and I saw tons of cars in the driveway to our houses.

“Okay, Taylor…what the hell is going on!?”

“Hold on! I have to blindfold ya.”

“Geez, Tay, let’s go overboard with the surprise, why don’t we?”

He laughed and softly pressed his lips against mine, then got out of the car. He walked over to my side and opened my door and I got out of the car.

“Taylor! God! Just tell me what it is! What’s going on!! It’s not my birthday is it?”

He laughed. “No. Just come on!” ‘God, she’s gonna love this!’ He stood behind me so he could cover my eyes with his hands and he led me down to the field behind my house.

“Are you ready?” He whispered into my ear.

“Taylor! I’ve been begging to know since you first told me there was a surprise!”

“I know. But maybe I don’t want to let you know what the surprise is and continue torturing you like this because you’re just so damn cute.”

“Taylor….” I said, a bit irritated, but smiling. ‘God, he loves to drag things out!’

He finally uncovered my eyes, and I looked and I saw all my friends standing in the field, and a small stage set up. I felt tears welling up in my eyes when I saw all my friends that I hadn’t seen in forever, and friends that I just loved to pieces.

“Taylor…my god…I don’t know what to say!”

“Don’t say anything yet! There’s more!”

“More?” I said in disbelief.

“Yep! Just go down there and mingle with your friends and the surprise just may show up.” I smiled at him and he smiled back. I jumped up and hugged him tight and kissed his cheek. “Ok, Tiff…don’t keep your friends waiting.”

“Taylor…you are gonna have to do some explaining later tonight!”

“I know.” He smiled and turned and ran to his house, and I ran down the hill to the field.

“Oh my god! Nicole!? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Virginia Beach?” I yelled when I saw her and almost tackled her to the ground.

She laughed and ran up to me and hugged me. “Yeah, but you are like…special or something, I guess.”

I laughed. “How did you know…why are…”

She smiled at me. “Taylor will explain it all tonight, okay?”

“But…Nicole!” I whined, “I’ve been waiting all day just for this! All my patience has disappeared!”

“Well, Stiffy, you better get that patience back!” She laughed, and I laughed too. Stiffy was one of my many weird nicknames that I had just for no reason other than it sounded funny.

“Well, well, well…Long time no see!” A voice said behind me. Before I looked I knew who it was.

“Josh!!!” I shrieked and turned and tackled him to the ground.

We were both laughing as he said, “Well, gee, Tiff…if you really want to, ya know…I’m ready and willing!”

I laughed and punched him in the stomach. “No, that’s okay man. I got a new boy now, and I am not about to lose him.”

“Yeah, I know! How in the hell did you manage getting Taylor Hanson!? I mean, god…I thought he was gay!”

“He’s not you dumbass, and he never was!”

“I guess!” He smiled. I jumped up off him and helped him up.

“Now, Josh, I know you probably don’t like him…but will you be nice to him and his brothers, anyway?”

“Well…I’ll be nice as long as he doesn’t do anything to hurt you, he won’t get hurt.”

I smiled. Josh was a really good friend of mine, and ex-boyfriend, and to this day he always made sure that if anyone hurt me, that they would get the crap beaten out of them. The only person that he really ever had to bitch at was Tony. His best friend and my other ex-boyfriend. He bitched at Tony so much it was unbelievable. I think he even bitched at Tony after I moved and we broke up. I knew Tony still liked me a lot. I hoped he wasn’t there.

I went around and talked to everyone. ‘Wow, I had more friends than I thought! And they’re all getting along! This is good!’

I was talking to Mike and Skribbles when I heard Mike say, “Oh great!” Under his breath. I looked toward the direction he was looking at and saw Tony walking toward us. Then a KiTTiE song came into my head…the one that reminded me of how I felt about him and our relationship.

Not feeling Not nothing Good intentions but jealousy takes over all Excuses, abuses This time I know it’s not over So I take all my pride And shove back down inside This time for us it’s Gone to far Get away from me Stay the fuck away from me… He wanted more Wanted a silenced whore You were my life Kill me now and burn my soul Get away from me Stay the fuck away from me… What do you see in me I can’t go out at night Answer me Tell me what’s it got to do with us Answer me What about all those times you looked into my eyes And lied You know it’s over It’s over…

I turned around back to Mike. “Mike…help me!” Mike was one of my best friends. We were really close. We even had a bit of a psychic connection, which was really weird.

He gave me a look that said ‘I don’t know what to do!’ and he hugged me. “Good luck,” He whispered in my ear. ‘God, I thought this would’ve been a good idea for Tiff…’

“Thanks,” I whispered back. And he took my hand a squeezed it and walked away.

“Hey, Tiff! What’s up?” An all too familiar voice said from behind me.

I closed my eyes, sighed, and then turned around. “Hey Tony. Nothing much. What about you?”

He looked deep into my eyes and quietly replied, “We need to talk.”

I knew this was coming. “Umm…okay. What about?” I already knew it was gonna be about Taylor, and Tony was an expert on making me feel guilty about absolutely everything I did. ‘Please, not today. I just want to be happy for once! Taylor…where are you?’ I looked around for him, and saw no sign of him.

“Tiff, you know what about.”

“Taylor?”

He sighed and looked down. “Yeah.”

“Okay…”

“Tiff…I love you…and I want to be with you…but I don’t know. I thought you felt the same…”

‘Yeah, I feel the same way, Tony…that’s why I broke up with you! God, he’s such an idiot! If I broke up with him, it has to be obvious that I don’t want to be with him!’ “Tony…”

“I guess maybe I was wrong. But, now that I have yet another reason to hate Hanson…”

“Tony, don’t even start. You don’t even know them! They are all the sweetest guys ever! I mean, Tay went through all this trouble so I could see all my friends and there’s still something else coming, and…and…” I was at a loss for words.

“Taylor is a piece of shit. You know…he won’t even be able to be with you all the time!”

“Oh, and you will!? Tony, we live on opposite sides of the state!”

“Yeah, and I can come see you whenever I want! You probably just want Taylor for his fame and money!”

I was beyond the point of pissed now. I had to fight back to not strangle him. “Tony, you know that isn’t true! I’d like him just as much as I do if he wasn’t famous and if he was broke!”

“Bullshit.”

“Tony, what the hell is your problem? Why can’t you be happy for me for once? God, I found a great guy who already treats me like a frickin queen…”

“Probably because he wants to get in your pants.”

“Tony, that is not true and I know you know that! If you are gonna be such a dick then why the hell are you here!? Why did you even come!?” By this time, Mike and Nicole were standing behind me ready to fight. Mike wasn’t a fan of Hanson, but even he thought that they were really cool people, and Nicole loved them to pieces. So we were all ready to defend them and myself.

“I came because I wanted to see you. I came because I want you back.”

“Well, you know what? That ain’t gonna happen. Even if you had the chance before, you just killed it today. You can’t even be happy for me! But, if I’m not happy for you when you break up with me for someone else twice, then I am just no good.”

“Tiffany, it isn’t like that…”

“Tony, just shut the fuck up and leave her alone,” Mike said.

“What the hell is your scrawny ass gonna do about it?” Tony yelled. Mike looked at me and then Nicole. Tony was bigger than he was. I looked back at Mike and took his hand. Just knowing he would bitch at Tony was comforting.

“You know what Tony? You are such a big jerk! I wish to god that I never even met you! I wish to god that Tiffany never even met you! You put us both through hell and back and we still stand by your side, and help you, and do everything we can to make you happy, no matter how much it hurts us…and you still can’t deal with the fact that we have more to our lives than just you!” Nicole screamed, getting into Tony’s face. He looked over at Mike and me and knew he was defeated. He muttered, “Fuck you all” under his breath and turned and walked away.

I sighed as tears came into my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. I couldn’t let them fall. Mike gave me a hug and asked, “Are you okay?”

I weakly smiled back at him, “Almost…I’ll feel better if you do your Jon Davis impression thingy.”

He smiled back at me and took a few steps back and screamed into an imaginary microphone in his hand “ARE YOU READYYYYY!?” And began head banging. That always made me laugh because he always did it so perfectly. That’s why I nicknamed him ‘Mini-Jon.’

I looked over Mike and saw Taylor running toward me. I smiled and watched him approach, and then we embraced. “Tiff, what happened? I heard you and Tony got into a fight!?”

I sighed, “Yeah. He wants me back, and apparently he thought by insulting me and you that it would work.”

Taylor looked into my eyes and pulled a stray strand of hair out of my face and brought it behind my ear. He sighed. “Tiff, I’m sorry. I didn’t think he would…I thought he was…I thought he could…”

I smiled. “Shut up Taylor. You couldn’t have known what he’d do. He’s messed up in the head.”

He smiled back at me and held me tight in his arms. “You still want the rest of your surprise?”

“Yeah!”

“Then close your eyes. And don’t peek!”

I rolled my eyes and covered them with my hands. Then I heard people getting up on the stage and mumbling all around me.

“Ok, open your eyes!” Tay said.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Then I saw them. On the stage was my favorite band that I had loved since I was in diapers, Bon Jovi. “Oh my god, Taylor…” The tears started falling.

“Shh…” Tay whispered as he put his arm around my waist, smiling.

“These first couple songs,” Jon Bon Jovi said into the microphone, “Are from Taylor to Tiffany…our biggest fan.” Then the whole band started playing “Mystery Train.”

You know everything about her but don't know her at all She's a ride on a mystery train To a place you've never been before Better hold on tight to that mystery train You're not in Kansas anymore She's a ride Mystery train

I smiled as even more tears began to fall. “Oh my god…Taylor…you really…you didn’t have…”

“I know…I wanted to though.”

“Why?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” He said and turned to face me. He looked into my eyes and took my face in his hands. “All I know is that, I have never felt this way about anyone before. And I don’t even know if it can happen this fast…but I have to say it…Tiffany, I love you.” And before I could say anything, he kissed me. It was the most amazing kiss ever.

“Tay…I…I love you too.” And for the first time in my life…I was sure that we both meant it. Just then, the band started playing “Save the World”