Change

I heard a soft knock on my door, echoing through my head as though slightly muted by the sleepy fog clouding my brain. I heard a slight screech, and it took me a moment to realize that someone had entered my room.

"Honey, are you decent?"

I let out a light groan, my mind beginning to clear itself of cloudiness and starting to focus in on reality, despite how much I wanted to remain submerged in sleep. I rolled over towards the door, my eyes squinting open enough to see who had disturbed my peace.

"You're wearing a shirt, good. Are you wearing pants?"

I stared at my mom. "What?"

She laughed. "You have a visitor downstairs. Get up."

By the way she said visitor, I had a feeling I knew exactly who it was.

I threw a glance at the clock. 10:00. Did this kid not know the meaning of sleeping in? I threw off my covers, standing up quickly and rushing to my mirror. I steadied myself as the blood rushed to my head. I looked at myself and made a face.

I forgot my mom was standing in my doorway until she chuckled and said, "Teeth. Most important thing."

I raised an eyebrow at her in the mirror before looking back at myself and nodding. "Kay. Tell him I'm coming!" I brushed past her towards the bathroom.

After combing through my hair and deciding that it looked surprisingly decent, I brushed my teeth, straightened out my clothes and took a deep breath before heading down the stairs. I heard my moms voice from the kitchen and prayed she wasn't saying anything embarrassing.

My mind quickly flew back to a few days before. It was the same night that Taylor had helped me lock up at the store.

I closed the door quietly, so as not to disturb my parents. I took off my jacket and was about to head into the kitchen when I heard footsteps behind me and whipped around, my heart racing.

"Mom!" I exclaimed, my hand flying to my heart.

She gave me a sheepish look, holding her hands up in self-defense. "I stayed up to wait for you. I wanted to make sure you got home safely, honey."

I crossed my arms, rolling my eyes but then giving her a smile. "I'm fine, Mom."

She nodded, raising an eyebrow. "So, how late did Mr. Hall stay with you?"

I felt my cheeks heat up. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, avoiding her eyes. "Um, until I locked up."

My mother surprised me by clapping her hands together excitedly. "So he could have protected you if anything were to happen!"

I stared at her. "I can protect myself."

She simply grinned at me. "Yes, honey, but he's cute, too, no?" My jaw dropped as I caught on to where she was going with the conversation. "What? Don't tell me you don't like that boy." She raised her eyebrows knowingly.

I let my head fall back, letting out a groan. When I met her eyes again, she was still smirking. I gave her an exasperated look and shrugged. "What do you want me to say, Mom?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, sweetie. He's helped out at the store a lot, and seems to enjoy spending time with you. He appears to be a nice young man. That's all I'm saying."

I narrowed my eyes at her and she stepped past me and up the stairs. I stared at the spot she had just been standing, my mind spinning.

I smiled slightly at the thought. My mom really seemed to have taken a strong liking to Taylor.

I pulled myself back to the present in time to hear my mom ask, "Did you eat?"

"Yeah. Thanks though, Mrs. Penner." I heard Taylor's deep voice, and my stomach started going nuts. I mentally swore at my internal organ before stepping into the kitchen.

"Of course, honey. Oh! Hi, Veronica, dear. Good morning." My mom glanced from me to Taylor, a goofy smile on her face that I ignored. He didn't notice her grin; he was looking at me. I met his eyes, giving him a smile and saying a quiet, "hi" before joining him across the table.

"Hey," he replied. He looked really good. His hair was naturally messy, and he was wearing a grey t-shirt with the Bauer logo on it that made his shoulders look incredibly massive, and jean shorts. I looked down at the table. I felt his eyes on me, but I turned to my mom, who had a smirk on her face as she poured Taylor and I each a glass of orange juice. I felt Taylor's eyes leave my face as she brought the glasses to the table. She set them down, the smile never leaving her face. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"Well," she clasped her hands together, "I'm heading out to the store. Your father's already there. Behave, honey."

I felt my cheeks heat up and I winced. "Bye, mom."

"Love you!" she called over her shoulder on her way to the front door.

"You too."

I continued to stare at the table before I glanced at Taylor, who spun his orange juice glass around a bit, an amused look on his face. He met my eyes and broke into a grin. I couldn't help but smile back, a small giggle escaping my mouth. The front door slammed, and I put my head in my hands.

"I am so sorry," I laughed. My voice came out slightly muffled, since my face was in my hands.

"It's okay." I could almost hear Taylor smiling, which automatically made me smile wider.

I finally calmed down and let my left hand fall to the table, leaning on my right hand. "She thinks every guy I know is my boyfriend." I looked down at the word boyfriend, and began tracing the wooden pattern on the kitchen table with my forefinger. I finally got sick of tracing and took a sip of orange juice.

"Well, she's your mom, it's her job," Taylor pointed out. I nodded.

"Does your mom do that?"

Taylor nodded. "Yeah, she does. Well, she did. Before I moved to Edmonton. I actually only had two girlfriends here. None of them lasted long, though." He paused. "I haven't dated anyone yet in Edmonton." There was silence, and I looked up to meet his eyes. I bit my lip.

"Why's that?"

"Busy," came his simple reply.

I nodded, my gaze falling back to the table.

"Um," Taylor cleared his throat. "I came over cause I wanted to ask if you wanted to do something today."

I immediately felt goosebumps. "Sure," I tried to say casually, even though I was going insane on the inside.

"Sick. What do you want to do?"

I shrugged, glancing at the time. "It's 10:20."

Taylor shrugged, taking a sip of orange juice. "I was going to suggest lunch, but since someone sleeps in, I'd suggest breakfast first," he teased.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I need to teach you the art of sleeping in."

Taylor laughed as I stood up, taking our now-empty glasses over to the sink.

"So what should we do?"

I turned around, leaning against the counter. Taylor was standing now, his arms crossed over his chest. My eyes drifted to his well-muscled arms, and I found myself wondering how it would feel to be wrapped up in them. I shook the thought, praying I wasn't blushing too obviously, even though I knew my cheeks were definitely heating up.

"You didn't have anything in mind?" I asked. Taylor shrugged. I made a face. "Well, I do have video games here. There's at least one male in this house. We, um, we didn't finish - or even start - playing NHL last time." I began to regret bringing up "last time" - aka the-time-I-ran-away-from-Taylor's-basement - but he simply gave me a smile, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Where are the goods?"

***

"Okay, I officially suck at this. Crosby, I thought you were good or something?" I whined, tossing my controller onto the floor.

Taylor rested his controller on his lap, grinning over at me. "Shoulda gone with the Oilers."

"Where were you guys in the standings again?" I raised an eyebrow, and Taylor laughed.

"Ouch."

I held my hands up. "Just saying."

"Well, on Playstation, you blame the person holding the controller, not the team." I glared at him, and he mocked, "Just saying." I gently shoved his shoulder, laughing. He laughed along with me, and I watched, mesmerized. His smile was wide, stretching from his mouth and spreading until his eyes squinted. He turned to me and I looked down at my hands. The laughter died down, but we were both still smiling.

"You ready for lunch?"

Taylor nodded, and we stood up. Taylor dropped his controller onto the couch behind him and we headed into the kitchen.

I headed directly to the fridge. I opened it, my mouth twisting to the side as I tried to think of what we could have for lunch.

"Is there anything you can't eat?" I asked Taylor from over my shoulder.

"No. I'm allergic to shellfish, that's all."

I let out a giggle, leaning back to look at him. "Yeah, cause I was gonna make shellfish for lunch."

Taylor held up his hands in protest. "You asked, I answered."

I laughed. "Fine. Let's try this again. What do you want for lunch?"

We decided on simple ham and cheese sandwiches on fresh kaiser buns. Taylor inhaled two while I finished one and brought out a plate of fruit that we had had for dinner the night before.

"So what have you been up to?" I spoke, picking at a strawberry. "I haven't seen you in a couple of days."

Taylor nodded. "Yeah, I know. I hung out with some old friends and stuff."

I nodded, popping the strawberry into my mouth. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, it was good to catch up." He grabbed a grape and swallowed. "What did you do?"

Wonder what you were doing.

"I saw Belle for a bit yesterday. She's been really busy, doing things with her parents." I laughed lightly. "I've been trying to avoid mine."

Taylor cocked his head to the side. "Why?"

I shrugged, my eyes falling to the plate of fruit. "Not avoiding them, really. Avoiding a particular conversation."

"Which is?" Taylor prodded.

I sighed, running my hands through my hair. I had only ever talked to Belle about this once, and she didn't get it at all. Her parents fully supported her going to University in Toronto. Probably because Toronto wasn't nearly as far as Thunder Bay, but still. They understood. Mine just didn't.

"They, um." I cleared my throat. "They don't really approve of me being in Thunder Bay. It's far."

Taylor nodded. "It is far."

I looked up at him, meeting his eyes for a moment, before bringing my knees up to my chest and resting them against the table. I rested my head on my knees, turning it so that I was somewhat looking in his direction. My plan had been to just leave it at that as soon as the conversation was brought up. But as Taylor gazed at me with his clear blue eyes, I found myself continuing, "I just don't get why they don't understand that I've always wanted to go there. And now that I'm finally there... I don't need them to tell me how much they dislike me being there. I miss them, too... They make me feel so guilty, and, ugh!" I lifted my head off my knees, staring in front of me at the table. "It's so frustrating."

Taylor was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry, Ronnie. That must suck."

I nodded, letting out a sigh. "It's like... I get homesick easily enough, and they know that. I call them..." I laughed, embarrassed. "Never mind."

Taylor grinned. "You have to tell me now."

I shook my head, and he raised his eyebrows. My head fell back and I closed my eyes with a groan before looking at him. "I call them at least once a week saying how I want to go home." I blushed, turning away from him. "Or at least, I used to. Not so much anymore. And... I needed that reassurance, I needed them to say, 'You'll be okay, Ronnie. Everything will be fine,' but they didn't. They;d try to subtly coax me into coming home. I'm surprised I've stood my ground this long. I love being there. Why don't they just understand that?" My tone was rough and frustrated, and I let out another sigh, this one sounding angry. I tugged my fingers through my roots. I was annoyed at my parents, and also at myself for throwing all of this on Taylor.

"Ronnie."

I took a deep breath, turning to him after I had somewhat composed myself. I raised my eyebrow as if to say, 'Yes?'

Taylor's face was serious. "Have you told them that this bugs you so much?"

I frowned. "Countless times."

Taylor shrugged. "I don't know, then. But I do know you're their daughter and they obviously just miss you. You're an only child, right?" I nodded. "So they're just going through withdrawal."

"They could pretend to be okay with it, though, couldn't they?"

"They could, but some people aren't good at hiding things like that."

I nodded, sighing. I gave him a tiny smile. "Sorry. Thanks for listening." My eyes fluttered down to the floor between us, and I felt Taylor's eyes on me.

"I don't mind at all."