I walked up the stairs. My shaky hands grasping the rail for support. For whatever reason I was really, really nervous about tonight. I had no clue what to expect. I noticed that the house was unusually quiet. There was always SOME type of noise, but as I walked up the stairs I didn’t hear anything. It was really dark too. When I finally reached the top of the stairs, I could hear the faint sounds of ‘I Will Always Love You’ by Whitney Houston playing and I could see faint traces of light from the living room. I took a deep breath and walked into the living room. On the coffee table there was another long stem rose laying next to a single burning candle. There was another note attached to the rose. This one read:

Manda-

Ok, follow the red rose road. I can do this. I went over to the staircase that led upstairs and read the next note.

Manda-

He was going to make this hard wasn’t he? I walked upstairs, being careful not to trip in my heels. There was another candle, another rose, and another note.

Manda-

I walked to the guest bedroom. It was the only room in the house that wasn’t occupied. This was the room the music was coming from. The stereo was still playing ‘I Will Always Love You’. There were candles lined across the mantle above the fireplace and several more candles scattered around the room. Rose petals were scattered all over the bed and the floor of the room. It was breath taking but there was still no sign of Taylor. In the middle of the bed amongst the rose petals there was another long stem rose with another note attached.

Manda-

I took a deep breath. There was no turning back now. I couldn’t, he had put so much effort into it. Besides I was extremely curious as to how he planned on apologizing. Which is something else I wanted from him. I was tired of fighting. I just wanted things to go back to the way they were. I went over to the sliding glass doors on the opposite side of the room. I went behind the curtains and slid the door open. The first thing I saw was Taylor he was standing at the rail of the balcony presumably watching the sunset. I noticed the table next. It was set up exactly like the tables in the ‘Starlight Café’ were set up. A small vase with a single long stem rose and two candles, it looked so beautiful. I was staring at nothing in particular; I could here the music from the stereo drifting through the open doors. ‘Let’s Make Tonight Special’ by Westlife was playing now. I had just gone off into my own little world of thoughts and emotions when I felt two strong arms wrap around my waist. I turned around to see Taylor’s bright blue eye’s staring back at me.

" Hi." he whispered.

"Hi." I whispered back. I noticed that he smelled really good. He was wearing the cologne I had sent him for his birthday, CKbe.

I was looking out at the sunset when I heard music. I turned around and saw Amanda staring off into space like she often does. She looked beautiful. That was one thing I loved about her. She didn’t need to do anything to make herself beautiful. She just was. I went over and put my arms around her waist. She smelled really good, like peaches.

"Hi." I whispered, hugging her close to me.

"Hi." She whispered back. I just looked into her eyes for a few minutes completely loosing myself in them.

"I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so sorry for the way I’ve treated you this past week." I said finally breaking the silence.

" It’s ok. Just as long as you’re truly sorry and promise never to do it again."

" I promise I will never act that stupid again." She laughed a bit and then turned around to face me, taking my large hands in her tiny ones.

" It really hurt me when you ignored me this past week."

" I’m sure it did, and I apologize for getting so wrapped up in Katie that I forgot you. It was a stupid thing for me to do and I’ll probably regret it for a long time."

" It’s ok." She said wrapping her arms around my neck as much as she could. She was about 7 inches shorter than I was, even with her heels.

" I made us dinner." I told her as we let go.

" Cool, what’d you make?" She asked, sitting down in one of the two chairs by the table.

" Grilled chicken pasta. My mom helped, so it is edible." I said sitting down in the other chair. She giggled, the way she does, scrunching her nose and looking adorable.

" So where is everyone?" She asked taking a bite of her dinner.

" Umm, my parents went out to dinner. Jessica, Avery, Mackie, and Zoe are at my aunt’s house. Krista and Zac are on a date. Kendra is over at Ryan’s and Isaac has a date with his friend Rachelle."

"Ohhhhhhh... so we’re all alone?"

"Yep, and at least until 12:00pm because that’s when my parents get home."

" Cool." We ate the rest of our dinner without talking, just the music in the background.

When we were both done I went into the guest bedroom and turned up the stereo.

" Will you dance with me?" I asked when I came back out.

" I’d love to." As she stood up ‘All My Life’ by KC & JoJo came on. She wrapped her hands around my neck while I wrapped my hands around her waist.

As we danced to the song I sung the words in her ear. Meaning each word and phrase as I sang them.