You're Mine Forever & Always

We all decided to go out to this amazing Italian restaurant that was close to the house. Madison rode over with me and Sam in my car while my parents, Makena and Jessica rode over in the Honda Accord. “So, Sam, how old are you?” Madison asked as I continued to drive, keeping my eyes on the road. “Eighteen, you?” I smiled at her. “Sixteen, well almost. You and Taylor are so lucky!” she said looking at me.

All three of us talked on the way over to the restaurant. Before we knew it, we were in the parking lot looking for a place to park. I pulled in to an open spot and shut the car off. After we all got out, we started walking up to the front of the restaurant so we could wait for the rest of them. I pull Sam as close to me as I could as we walked inside.

Before we knew it, everyone was there. “How many?” the girl asked who stood behind the podium. “Um, seven,” my mom said as she stood there. We were all sitting down on a bench waiting for her to see how long the wait was. Before we knew it, we were walking back to a table; I guess the wait wasn’t really that bad at all. Once the girl led us to the table, she kept her eye on me as I sat down after Sam slid in to the booth.

To get her to stop staring over at me, I made something for her to look at as I pulled Sam closer and kissed her full on the lips. Pulling away slightly, I could see her glance over at me for a second before going on with her job. “Taylor, not at the lunch table...can you hold off ‘til later, will you, son?” my dad asked, staring over at me. Sighing, I rolled my eyes and grabbed her hand under the table, pulling her closer.

After we all ordered our food, we all continued talking. Sam and I were talking amongst ourselves before Jessica interrupted us by clearing her throat in a real irritating way, like she was looking for attention as always. I turned and looked over at her, my arm tightening around Sam’s waist as I looked over at her. “So, Samantha,” she said looking over at her, a really strange look in her eye. She was up to something I could tell. “Yeah?” she asked, looking back at her.

“How long have y’all been together?” she asked, smiling over at us. I could tell it was a fake smile from where I was sitting. It was always like this when she was up to something. “Uh, it’ll be a week in a few days.” She said. “Well, that’s cute!” she said. “Thanks,” Sam smiled over at her. They continued talking, small talk while we all waited for our food to get there. We all talked while we ate our food. I had my hand resting on her leg as we ate, I really hoped Jessica wouldn’t try and get in the middle of mine and Sam’s relationship. If I know her well enough as I think I do, she’ll think of something.

As we continued to eat our food, Sam and I were talking quietly amongst ourselves about everything. Every so often, I would glance over my shoulder to see if Jessica was staring over at us, and unfortunately, she wasn’t. That surprised me; she was in the middle of talking with my parents. I only noticed her look back at me once, with a questioning look. Quickly shifting my eyes back to Samantha’s beautiful face, we engaged back in to our conversation.

Sam was taking small bites of her salad as she looked at me, a slight irritated look on her face. I knew the reason why; Jessica was bugging her like I thought she would start to do. Oh, the joys of spending time with my girlfriend and having my oldest cousin close by keeping watch like she was just waiting for something to go wrong. I rolled my eyes and grabbed another breadstick before shoving it in my mouth. “Taylor, sweetie, don’t take such big bites or you’ll choke,” Jessica said towards me and was staring right over at Sam with a mischievous look on her face. I looked at her with a calm, straight face. Who was she to talk? There she was, stuffing her face with the pasta she ordered and eating pretty fast herself.

I looked over at Sam, whose eyes were kind of red like she was about to cry. Setting my fork down, I put an arm around her, pulling her close against my body. “Baby, what’s wrong? You want to talk about it?” I asked, staring in to her eyes. She was silent, I knew something wasn’t right and she was upset about something. I could tell. “N-nothing, i-its fine!” she said looking back up at me, her eyes shimmering against the reflection of the sun coming through the window.

“Okay, you sure?” I asked once more before taking another bite of my food. She nodded her head and took another bite of her salad. “I-I t-think I’ll be right back,” Sam said quietly before getting up and walking away from the table. Not too long after Sam got up and walked off, Jessica stood up and said she would be back in a few minutes. Shit, what was happening? Jessica better not start arguing with her now, and here of all places! First of all, she just barely even met her. From what I know about Jessica, she does this with everyone she’s ever met, part of the family or just a friend. Always stirring things up and getting in trouble.

Meanwhile; Sam’s POV
Okay, I know it’s only been a few hours since I met Taylor’s cousins, but Jessica is really starting to get on my last nerve. Sounds like all the stuff Taylor told me were true about her…it seems like it. I guess it just bugs me that she’s keeping watch of me and Taylor, like she’s monitoring everything that’s going on in our lives or something. No, I won’t have someone doing that to me or someone I’m in love with. Being in a relationship with someone means, everything happens on its terms between the two people, not anyone else.

After I found the bathroom, I walked in the women’s restroom before going over and looking at my reflection in the mirror. My makeup was starting to run and I had some tears in my eyes. Being around Jessica only for not even an entire day so far stresses me out. I mean, does she have anything else better to do than stir up trouble like this? I guess not. I was doing better until she walked in. Great, what the hell did she want now?

“Hey,” she said and smirked evilly over at me. “H-hi?” I trailed off like it was a question as I started to fix my makeup in the mirror. “I’m sorry but, what’s your problem?” I asked. “Problem? With what?” she asked in a cocky manner as she stared over at me. “Me, and Taylor…does that bother you that he wants all the time he can get with me? After all, me being his girlfriend and all,” I said as I stared her right in the eyes. She stared back at me, a look of confusion in her eyes.

“Yeah, it does! Since I’m the one visiting my cousin, I want some time with him too! And if you’re wondering this too, I’m not going to try and steal him from you, don’t worry I won’t. I have a boyfriend back home,” she said, I could tell she was lying. Oh, sure you are! You’ll probably find a way…in hell! “Oh, ok…and just letting you know, I wasn’t wondering that. Why would you think that?” I questioned. “Because of how you’re acting since this conversation started,” she said, I decided to shrug this whole thing off.

“Oh…” I trailed off before washing my hands and drying them off with a paper towel. I rolled my eyes at the thought of the entire conversation I just had with her as I walked out the door back to our table. A wide smile appeared on my face as I saw Taylor’s face, smiling over at me as I walked over to where he was at the table.

“Hey baby,” he said, smiling and put his hand out for mine as I slid in the booth next to him. I smiled back. “Hi baby,” he laced his fingers with mine as he pulled me closer. “What happened? Because you were gone for a while…and I was starting to worry. What did she say to you?” he asked softly as I looked up, noticing everyone staring at me. Well, this was awkward. “I’ll tell you later,” I whispered in his ear as she came back to the table, a smirk on her face in mine and Taylor’s direction. “Okay,” he said and wrapped a strong arm around my waist.

We all talked quietly amongst ourselves for the next few minutes or so before the waitress brought our check to the table. Taylor’s mother paid for the whole thing. I tightened my grip on Taylor’s hand as we headed out to his car. Madison was walking with us. “Hey, I’m sorry about Jessica. She can be a real bitch and pain in the ass; she’s like that with everyone,” she said, looking over at me. “I figured, thanks for letting me know, Taylor brought all that by me too!” I said as we made it back to his car.

“No problem, you know…I wish I had a sister like you, instead of Jessica and how she is. You’re awesome, and I can tell we’re gonna be super close!” she said, I smiled. “Awwh, thanks! Me too!” I said, smiling back at her. After Taylor started up the car, Never Gonna Be Alone by Nickelback was blaring through the speakers of his car. Before we knew it, we finally made it back to his house.