My Heart Belongs to You

Arriving home after the game, Taylor was surprised to find her mom already home from work and smiled as she entered the kitchen. Sitting down at the counter, Taylor watched as her mom flitted around the room and hummed along to the radio. Opening the oven, she took out two halves of a chocolate cake and placed them down in front of her.

"I thought we could decorate the cake like we always do and light the candles in your dad's memory," her mom suggested, earning a nod from Taylor, "How was school today?"

"Hard, but I made it through," Taylor told her, "Dylan and the football team lit candles and released balloons for dad at the game, it was nice."

"Dylan's a good friend to you."

"He is," Taylor agreed, "How is work going?"

"It's busy, we've picked up three new clients this week and I'm working on gaining another within the next few days," her mom stated.

"I'm glad things are going well, has Chris' wife had the baby yet?"

"She gave birth to Summer-Rose last week."

"Cute."

Helping her mom decorate the cake, Taylor grabbed the light blue writing icing and carefully wrote 'Happy not Birthday' on the top in shaky writing. Turning off the kitchen lights, her mom lit the candles and wiped away a few stray tears that slid down her cheeks.

"He'd still want you to make a wish," her mom said, moving to stand beside her and taking her hand.

Closing her eyes tight, Taylor thought for a few moments and then blew out the flames as she let her wish fill her mind. Removing the candles one by one, Taylor put them to one side and smiled as her mom cut two slices.

"Can we watch a film?" Taylor asked, hoping she'd say yes and relaxing when her mom nodded.

Waking up the following morning, Taylor found that her mom had covered her with a blanket and left a note on the coffee table.

'Morning sweetie, I've been called into work and don't know what time I will be home... hope you have a great day, mom xxx'

The school day seemed to fly by and Taylor soon found herself sitting on the bleachers, waiting for Dylan to finish practice. Retrieving her sketch pad, she observed the team for a few minutes and started sketching.

An hour later, Taylor met Dylan outside the changing rooms and they headed towards the park. Feeling her phone vibrate, Taylor retrieved it from her pocket and opened the new message from Tammy.

'What are you doing Tay-Tay?'

'Just walking to the park with Dylan.'

'Oooo Taylor and Dylan sitting in a tree K I S S I N G.'

'You're such a child lol, do you want to meet up with us?'

'Sure, I'll be there in about half an hour.'

Behave yourself.'

'Me... I always behave myself'

Sitting on one of the swings, Taylor felt like a little kid as she pushed off the ground and let herself swing slowly as she spoke to Dylan about his plans for the summer.

"I saw you drawing while I was training, can I see?"

"Sure," Taylor replied, stopping the swing and taking her sketch pad out of her bag. Handing it over to Dylan, she sat in silence as he looked through it and saw the smile that appeared on his face as he reached the drawing of the team, "It's not finished yet, I've got a few more details to add and some shading that needs to be done."

"Can I have it once it's finished?" Dylan inquired, earning a nod and smiling.

"Tammy in the house" Tammy shouted as she jumped over the fence that surrounded the park, joining them and thanking Dylan with a grin when he offered her his swing, "Did I miss anything?"

"Nope, we were just talking about our plans for summer," Taylor told her, "Are you going to the lake house this year?"

"We are, mom was going to talk to your mom about you coming with us again."

Spending another hour at the park, Dylan left to go home and Taylor went with Tammy to her house for a while. Waiting for Tammy to make them some food, Taylor went upstairs to set up the Wii and bumped into Kevin as he left the bathroom.

"Hey beautiful," Kevin greeted as he hugged her, "Listen, can we talk real quick?"

"Of course, what's up?" Taylor replied, continuing into Tammy's room and sitting down on the bed.

"We've known each other for a while and I guess over that time my feelings for you have changed," Kevin stated, swallowing nervously and looking her straight in the eyes, "What I'm trying to say is that I like you... I really like you"

"I..." Taylor started, falling silent as Tammy entered the room and catching the bag of popcorn that was tossed in her direction.

"Out of my room, dweeb," Tammy ordered, pointing to the door, "We're having some girl time and you're neither a girl, nor invited."

After playing the Wii for nearly three hours, they ate dinner and then Taylor decided that it was time to head home. Offering to drive her, Kevin grabbed his mom's keys off the side before Taylor could argue and led her out to the car without a word. Parking up outside her house, Taylor looked over at Kevin to thank him and was surprised when he kissed her.

"Night," Kevin said as Taylor got out the car, closing it behind her and glancing back through the window.

"Night."