Chapter 14
On Friday evening Christine sat nervously waiting in the airport for Taylor’s plane to arrive. When they announced that it had landed she stood up and paced back and forth a bit until people started filing out of the terminal.
She watched person after person walk out until finally she saw him looking as beautiful as ever in jeans and a plain black T-shirt. Their eyes finally met, and he gave her the most heart-melting smile.
Christine felt a lump in her throat grow as she waited for him, resisting the urge to run through the mass of people to get to him.
Finally he made it to her and they embraced tightly. “Oh god, it feels so good to be in your arms” she whispered in his ear. Taylor didn’t answer, he just held her closely for a long time.
When they finally stepped away Taylor reached out and wiped a stray tear off of Christine’s face with his thumb. “Come on, lets go get your bag and go home” she said smiling brightly.
“Sounds wonderful to me” Taylor agreed.
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Christine and Taylor got some dinner on the way back to her apartment. They decided to go straight home after eating and stay in for the night enjoying the time together.
“Are you’re roommates here?” Taylor asked as Christine let them into her quiet and dark apartment.
“No, they both left this afternoon for home. Of course my parents think that Jen is still her and that you’ll be sleeping in Kendra’s room…oops,” she said with a mischievous grin.
Taylor raised an eyebrow. “Lying to your parents. You’re such a bad girl” he teased.
“Well I didn’t exactly lie, I just didn’t tell the whole truth” she told him.
“How is that any different?” he asked.
“I don’t know, it just sounded better,” she admitted. Taylor laughed. “Well, this is the living room” Christine continued referring to the room they were in at the time. “Through that door is the kitchen, down this hall is my bedroom, and that’s the extent of the grand tour. So, pick any room.”
“Hmm, such a hard decision. How about your bedroom” he suggested.
“Oddly enough, my first choice too” Christine joked.
“Great minds must think alike,” Taylor said as she led him down the hall into the room.
Taylor surveyed the small room. The white walls were plastered with pictures and other mementos. She had a double bed with a pale blue comforter. A nightstand with framed pictures of the two of them. A desk the held some text book, the dried remains of the roses he had sent for Valentines Day, and a few candles, and a shelf that held her stereo and a small TV. On her closet door there were magazine cut outs of celebrities of the male gender. “I approve of everything except the closet door” he told her.
“Hey come on, I used to have you up there too. But then it just got a bit weird, so I took them down” she told him laughing.
“Well then, you should have took them all down” he said jokingly.
Christine walked over and opened the door. “That better?” she asked.
“Yeah, I suppose that’ll do” he answered.
“Now, if I recall correctly it was someone’s birthday a few days ago, and I missed it” Christine said.
“Yeah, that sounds right to me” Taylor agreed taking a seat on the bed and flashing the amazing Taylor grin Christine knew so well.
“Happy Birthday Taylor, I wish I could have been there that day, but this will have to do” she told him handing him the package.
Taylor unwrapped the package and opened the box. Inside was a vintage gray shirt that look just like him, and another smaller wrapped package. Inside the other package was a photo album filled with pictures taken during Christine’s visit to Tulsa that Christmas. “Wow, this so wonderful. Thank you so much baby” Taylor told her flipping through the book.
“You’re welcome,” she said softly as they continued to look through the pictures reliving the memories.
“Well, now what?” Taylor asked when they were done.
“Now, for the most famous birthday tradition” Christine announced.
“And what’s that?” he asked.
“Birthday boy receives 20 birthday kisses” she told him.
Taylor grinned. “I think I like that tradition.”
They leaned in for the first kiss then pulled away a minute later. “Mmm, one” Christine started counting.
