My Heart Belongs to You

Taylor didn't sleep much that night, replaying the kiss in her mind over and over again. She didn't view Kevin in that way and the kiss had made her feel nothing that a kiss should, but how could she let him down gently without destroying their friendship.

School the next day seemed to drag, but finally, the bell rang to signal home time and Taylor couldn't wait to be away from everyone for the weekend. Spotting Tammy at her locker, Taylor internally groaned and approached her best friend with a small smile on her face.

"Do you want to come back to my house for a bit?" Tammy asked as Taylor closed the metal door.

"Is Kevin going to be there?"

"Probably, but he's always there when we hang out," Tammy told her with a frown," What is going on with you... you've been acting weird all day?"

"No, I haven't."

"Yes, you have," Tammy argued, "You've been quiet and every time I've spoken to you, you've had this look on your face as if you want to run away. What's going on?"

"I... Kevin kissed me last night," Taylor blurted out, causing Tammy to spit her drink everywhere and turn to look at Taylor.

"He did what?" Tammy practically shouted, attracting the attention of the students around them, "I'm going to kill him... wait, you don't fancy my brother do you?"

"No, of course not... that would just be weird," Taylor stated, "I've been thinking all day about ways of letting him down gently, but I know that he's going to get hurt whatever I decide and it sucks."

"Leave it to me."

Before Taylor could say anything, Tammy hugged her and disappeared. Stopping by Nel's to get a milkshake, Taylor made her way home and got comfortable on her bed to do her homework. Seeing her phone light up, Taylor grabbed it and opened the new message from Dylan.

'You look bored' the text read, causing her to frown and look out her window to find Dylan grinning at her from his room.

'Creepy much... what are you doing, weirdo?'

'Stalking you, got a problem with that?'

'Surprisingly, not really because I stalk you as well'

'I could think of worse people to be stalked by'

'Wanna come over and do homework?

'Sure'

Knowing that her mom was downstairs, Taylor stayed where she was and smiled as Dylan jumped on the bed next to her. Nudging her shoulder in greeting, he pulled his books out without a word and started working through his homework.

"I'm heading to the park to meet some friends in a bit, do you want to come?" Dylan inquired, closing his English book and watching Taylor do her art assignment.

"Who's going to be there?"

"Just a few of the football team, we're going to play some baseball and maybe toss a football around."

"Are you sure they won't mind me tagging along?"

"I'm sure, Chad was the one that suggested it and I said I'd ask you."

"Okay then."

Working on her art project for another hour, Taylor got changed into a tracksuit and said goodbye to her mom as she followed Dylan out the front door. The walk to the park was filled with laughter and random conversation, but Taylor's mood soon changed when she saw Michelle.

"I swear I didn't know that she was going to be here," Dylan mumbled as they approached his friends.

"It's fine."

Waving as some of the team said hi, Taylor took off her jumper ready to play and went to stand with Dylan as he chose her to be on his team. Chucking her the baseball, Taylor walked over to the pitching spot they'd set up and waited for everyone to get into position.

"Hey pitch, why do you keep hitting our bats?" Jared shouted with a smile, causing Taylor to chuckle and flip him the middle finger.

"Just warming up."

Getting her final player out, the teams switched places and Taylor picked up a bat. Motioning for her to go first, Dylan nodded in encouragement and watched as Taylor got into her batting stance.

"Come on, Tay, you got this," Dylan said as Jared brought his arm back to pitch.

Focusing on the ball, Taylor tracked its path in her head and then swung the bat hitting the ball across the field. Dropping the bat, she ran round to each base and slid for home as Chad threw the ball in to get her out.

"Safe," Garrett called, high fiving Taylor and jogging back onto the field.

Heading over to the park shop, Taylor bought herself a Gatorade and a pack of Dr Pepper juicy twists. Taking a seat beside Dylan on the grass, she leaned back against the tree that was behind them and offered Dylan some of her drink.

"Isn't it sweet," Michelle snarked.

"Leave it out, Michelle," Jared warned, earning a glare from Michelle and a grateful smile from Taylor, "We didn't come here to listen to you bitch, we came here to have some fun and play ball."

"Who even invited her anyway?" Michelle asked.

"What does it matter who invited her?" Chad added, "At least she was invited and didn't just turn up unexpectedly."

Shutting up after that, Michelle kept her comments to herself and settled on giving Taylor evil looks instead. Giving Jared her last juice twist, Taylor stood up and agreed to have a throw around with the boys.

Jumping to catch the ball that Chad tossed in her direction, Taylor ran and laughed as Dylan gently tackled her to the ground. They messed around until it started getting dark and Dylan walked her home, dropping on her bed as they entered her room.