Taylor opened his door to Mira standing there crying, her wet hair starting to form limp curls. "Oh my God, what’s wrong?" Taylor asked allowing her to come inside.

She stepped in and threw her arms around Taylor’s neck clinging to his body. "Mira, what happened?" he pressed. "Are you okay?" he asked holding her to him. She sobbed harder into his shoulder. "Shh," he closed his eyes and stroked her hair. "Tell me what happened." When her tears kept her from saying anything, Taylor turned his head to look at Chris. "Let’s go in my room, okay?" He told her gently. She nodded her head and followed him to his room.

She took her wet raincoat off and draped it over Taylor’s desk chair. She walked over to his bed and threw herself face down onto the beige and green comforter. He sat down beside her and silently watched as her body slightly jumped up and down as she cried. He took the hair from around her face and pulled it back. He had a feeling he knew what happened as he gently stroked her back. After a while she sniffed and rolled over on her back.

"He broke up with me," her voice cracked just above a whisper.

"Oh my God, Mira, I’m so sorry," said as she sat up. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her to his chest. She turned her face into his shoulder as she draped her arms around his neck. "What happened?" He whispered.

"He’s sleeping with somebody else," she said.

"What?" he exclaimed. "Since when?"

"Since last week," she sniffed before sobbing even harder.

"Aww," he squeezed her tighter. "I can’t believe that. I’m really sorry."

"I don’t know what went wrong," she said. "What did I do?" She asked looking up at him.

"You didn’t do anything," he told her rubbing her back. "You are the coolest girl in the world," he said before placing a kiss on her forehead. "And he’s crazy."

"He’s an asshole," she complained.

Taylor let out a small laugh and held her head to his chest as he rested his chin on her. "Most of them are," he told her. "There’s still a few of us good guys left though."

"I can’t believe I’m crying over a guy," she said.

"It’s okay. You’re allowed to cry over someone you loved," he told her. She sighed letting go of Taylor and made her way to hi bathroom. She splashed water on her face and pulled her hair back. She came back into Taylor’s room and he was laying on his back. "Come here," he patted the spot beside him on the bed.

She crawled onto the bed beside Taylor and curled up next to him. "So do you wanna hang out with me tonight, or would you rather be by yourself?" he asked.

"What do you have in mind?" Mira asked.

"Well we could always put on our fat pants, order a pizza and watch movies."

"Okay," she smiled. "But I think I wanna go to sleep first," Mira said in a small voice.

"Okay. I think I’ll take a nap too," he said closing his eyes.

Right as Mira was waking up, Taylor’s phone rang. She felt him leave her side to answer it. "Hello?" he asked quietly..... "Hey, yeah. You know normally I’d love to but I already have plans.... yeah, see Mira’s boyfriend just broke up with her,’ he whispered. "And I’m gonna stay and keep her company.... okay. But I promise I’ll call you tomorrow, okay babe? Alright, I’ll tell her..... bye," he said before hanging up and crawling back into bed.

"You don’t have to stay with me if you wanna go out with Natasha," she said sleepily.

"No, I wanna stay with you tonight. Natasha will get along without me," he told her.

They both turned over on their sides to face each other. "Thank you," she said.

"Anytime," he smiled. "So what movies should we get?" he asked. "I’ll run to the store if you wanna stay here."

"Okay. I don’t care, get whatever. Just nothing that’ll depress me," she smiled.

"Got it," he said smoothing her hair back. "No Titanic, Sleepless in Seattle, or any Julia Roberts movies."

"Yeah," she laughed. "I trust you."

"Alright," he said getting up. He opened one of his drawers and pulled out a pair of blue and green plaid flannel pants. "You can wear these if you want. They’re comfy." He found a t-shirt in another drawer and dropped it on top of the pants. "I’m gonna go across the street."

"Okay, thanks," she said.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I’ll be back," he told her before heading out the door.

Taylor came back and found note on the wipe board on the back of the door:

Tay-

"Hey," Mira smiled walking out of Taylor’s bedroom. She was wearing the clothes he gave her.

"Hey there," he smiled back. "I come bearing necessities," he said laying a bag on the counter. Mira leaned on her elbows on the other side. "Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food," he said holding up a pint of ice cream.

"Yum," Mira smiled.

"And I got Dazed and Confused," he laid the movie on the counter.

"Alright," she laughed.

"And just for you," he said taking a magazine out of the bag. "Cosmo, for intellectual stimulation."

"Aww," she laughed. "Thank you so much."

"You’re welcome. I’m gonna order the pizza," he said turning around to pick up the phone. He ordered the pizza and went to his room to change clothes while Mira flipped through her magazine. Taylor came back out wearing a pair of baggy gray sweatpants and an old Aerosmith t-shirt. They went over to the couch and he took the bag of Starburst he bought and sat down with Mira. He opened the bag and stared sorting the candy by color putting the pink and red in one pile and the orange and yellow in another.

"What are you doing?" Mira laughed as he concentrated.

"Separating them," he told her.

"You can’t do that."

"But I don’t like the orange and yellow," he laughed.

"But you can’t do that," she told him messing up his piles.

"Hey," he looked up at her laughing. "Why not?"

"Cause it’s not fair to the orange and yellow ones," she said.

"Well then you eat them," he said playfully pushing her arm.

"No, I like the pink ones," she said pouting.

Taylor shook his head laughing and started separating the candy again. "Why don’t you read your Cosmo?" He smiled. The pizza came and they started the movie. When it was over Taylor cleaned up the various paper towels and the pizza box and took them outside to the trash room. Mira changed the channel to MTV and they watched the Undressed marathon.

"Interesting articles?" He asked looking down at Mira while she laid with her head resting on a pillow on Taylor’s lap.

"Maybe," she smiled. "You know you wanna read it."

"Is you hair making you look fat?" He read off the page. "Does my hair make me look fat?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Okay," he laughed as she turned the page.

"Hey Taylor?" She asked.

"Hmm?" He raised his eyebrows while he watched TV.

"How old were you when you lost your virginity?"

"Why?" He laughed looking down at her.

"Just wondering," she shrugged.

"17."

"With Julie?" She asked.

"Mm hmm," he nodded. "What about you?"

"I was 18," she said flipping another page.

"Josh?" He asked.

"Yeah," she answered quietly.

"Do you regret it?"

She laid the magazine on her lap and looked up at him. "Kind of. I sometimes think I should’ve waited until Brian. Joshua was basically an ass. He didn’t deserve me," she grinned picking her magazine back up.

"Hey, what’s your horoscope?" Taylor asked.

"Let’s see..Gemini," she said before clearing her throat. "You’ll be bumping into your ex a lot,’ hmm, great," she rolled her eyes. - "and you’ll realize how much better off you are without him,’ damn right. ‘A valuable friendship turns sexual so let it happen," she read. "Hmm," she thought looking up at him.

"Interesting," he said raising one eyebrow. "What’s mine?"

"Pisces," she began. "Okay, ‘Your partner is hiding something from you. Doing the matress mambo with an ex is on your dance card. Don’t worry about feelings you can’t control.’"

"Whoa," he said.

"Your partner’s hiding something from you."

"What’s that about?" He asked. "Matress mambo," he laughed.

Later on they finally turned the TV off and got off the couch. "So what are you doing tomorrow?" Taylor asked.

"Probably moping around feeling sorry for myself," she said smiling.

"Well you can always call or come over if you want. Whenever," he said.

"Thanks," she said stretching. "Damn it’s late. I better get going," she said looking at the clock on the microwave.

"No, I think you should sleep here," he said hopping up on the counter. "I mean, you don’t have to but.."

"Well if it’s okay with you.."

"Yeah, totally," he said.

"Okay," she nodded.

"Cool," he nodded with her. "So let’s go in my room." He hopped of the counter and locked the door. He shut off the lights and the TV as he followed Mira into his room.

"Charles in Charge," Mira said.

"That's easy.  Charles in Charge of our days, and our nights," Taylor sang as he laid next to Mira in his dark bedroom.

Mira laughed.  "Good job."

"Okay, one more."

"Taylor," she whined rolling over on her side.  "It's 4:00."

"Growing Pains."

"Oh my God," she said.  She rolled over on her back and looked up while she thought.

"Ha.  I got you," Taylor smiled.

"No.  I know this one... As long as we got each other.  We got the world spinnin' right in our hand," she sang as she remembered the theme song.

He laughed.  "Baby rain or shine, all the time," he joined in.  "We got each other, sharin' the laugher and love."

"Oh my God," she smiled.  "We're dorks, man."

"I know.  Goodnight, Mira."

"Night Tay."

chapter eleven

fiction

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