My Heart Belongs to You

Waking up early Saturday morning to go practice with Dylan, Taylor joined her mom for breakfast and sent Dylan a quick text.

'Hey, what time do you want to meet up for practice today?'

After an hour of no reply, Taylor decided to meet him at the park and left with a quick goodbye to her mom. Arriving half an hour later, she made her way to their usual spot and frowned as she spotted Dylan with an automatic pitcher set up.

"Hey," Taylor said as she approached him, "I text you this morning to find out what time you wanted to meet up, but you never replied..."

"Yet, here you are."

"Did I miss something?" Taylor asked.

"I broke up with Michelle," Dylan mumbled as he swung at the ball angrily, glaring as he missed and throwing his bat on the floor in frustration.

"What happened?"

"You happened... I thought you'd be happy to hear that I was single."

"Why would that make me happy?"

"This is what you wanted, right?" Dylan inquired, "You wanted me to break up with Michelle, so that I'd be available for you..."

"How can you say that?" Taylor replied, cutting Dylan off from continuing, "Whatever the reason is for your break up, it has nothing to do with me."

"It has everything to do with you," Dylan argued, "If you had just walked away, then Michelle wouldn't have had the opportunity to say what she did about your dad and we'd still be together."

"I didn't ask you to stand up to her, you did that all by yourself and if you're looking for someone to blame then try looking at your ex-girlfriend because she is the one that made the comment... not me."

Leaving Dylan at the park, Taylor wandered aimlessly for a while and soon found herself standing outside her old dance studio. Hearing music coming from inside, she headed in and watched as a group of young kids danced.

Entering the garage as soon as she got home, Taylor plugged her iPod into its dock and scrolled through her playlist until too she came to the song she wanted. Pressing play, she moved to the center of the room and closed her eyes. Waiting for the music to begin, Taylor let the melody wash through her and allowed her body to move freely. Her dad had been her biggest supporter when it came to dancing and it felt weird doing it without him there.

It still took her out of her head, away from reality and into her own peaceful bubble. Dance had been her source of therapy since she was young, an outlet where she could let out some of the hurt and sadness that she kept locked up inside. After her dad died, dancing no longer felt like freedom, it felt as if she was betraying her dad and so she gave it up.

Hearing the garage door open, Taylor looked up and spotted Tammy watching her with a smile. Pausing the song, she returned her friends smile with one of her own and hugged her in greeting.

"Ewww, get your sweaty self off of me," Tammy complained, "You look good out there, are you thinking of going back to lessons?"

"Thanks, I was just messing around," Taylor stated with a shrug, "I thought you were going out with your dad and brother today."

"I did, but we got home earlier than planned and I came over here to see if you wanted to hang out?"

"Arcade?" Taylor suggested, earning an enthusiastic yes from Tammy and heading inside to get some money from her mom.

The arcade was buzzing with activity as usual, but that didn't stop Tammy from dragging Taylor around like an over excited child and pouting when she didn't win a teddy from the claw machine. Pushing her friend to the side, Taylor put some money into the machine and tried for the same teddy that Tammy had wanted.

"Eeek... yay," Tammy squealed in Taylor's ear as the teddy dropped into the collection shoot.

"I woof you," Taylor added, quoting what was written on the dog's heart and handing it over to Tammy with a smile.

"I woof you too."

They stayed at the arcade for a few hours more, before returning to Taylor's house and settling in to watch a movie with her mom on the sofa. Dragging Tammy up to her room once the movie had finished, she noticed that Dylan's light was on and sighed as he pulled his curtain closed without even acknowledging her.

"Tammy, if you're staying over tonight, you need to let your parents know," her mom said as she poked her head around the door, earning a nod from Tammy and bidding them both goodnight.

Texting her mom, Tammy jumped on the bed next to Taylor and pulled the camera up on her phone. Taking a few different snaps of them together, she used Taylor's laptop to upload them onto Facebook and then chose one of them to be her new profile picture.

'We're not best friends because friends can leave each other's lives... we're sisters because sisters are forever, I love you my nonbiological sister!!'

Tagging Taylor in her status update, Tammy posted it and nudged Taylor's shoulder to get her attention.

"It's obvious that something is bothering you and I know better than to push too hard, but I'm here for you when you're ready to talk."

"I know," Taylor mumbled, pulling Tammy into a hug, "Thank you for being the best nonbiological sister I could ask for."