Just Like Me

by Dani Hall

  “I worked with Hannigan on a movie set when I was twelve; he told me the director loved peanut butter cookies. So I asked my mom to make him some, and she did. The next time I saw the dude, I gave him the cookies. Turns out he was allergic to peanut butter and ended up in the hospital.”

  “Hannigan told you to do that?!”

  “He sure did,” Taylor said with a laugh. “I kind of avoided him after that. We’re all smiles and laughs now, though.” He chuckled, giving me a wink. I smiled.

  After we had all finished eating, we still sat around talking for a long time. Mom mostly didn’t talk, but chuckled during appropriate times. Nori was holding a wooden spoon, tapping it playfully on her high chair.

  “I think she could have a future in music.” Taylor jested at Nori. She chomped her teeth together, which was what she associated with zombies. Mom had cleared the table; everything was put up. Taylor reached, almost absentmindedly, for my hand. He laced his fingers through mine, out in plain view on the table. I looked up to see Mom’s reaction. She tensed when she saw it, but didn’t say anything.

  “Maybe we should get her a drum set, what do you think Nori?” Abe asked, leaning across the table toward Nori. Mom reflexively put her hand on the tray of Nori’s high chair.

  “Rum, rum.” She gurgled, tapping her spoon joyfully. “Kay kay lie rum?”

  “Yes, I like drums.” I answered.

  Everyone was quiet for a moment, lost in their own thoughts. I broke the silence.

  “We’ll take a walk along the road, and then we’ll probably have to get going. We have to get to California tonight.”

  Movement fluttered across the room and Mom moved to finish cleaning up. I offered to help, but she declined, waving me away as she fought the tears in her eyes. Abe went and unsnapped Nori from her high chair. Taylor and I stood up, and I gave a ‘be right back’ to them before we walked out onto the porch. We took the steps onto the ground and walked out to the road. Our fingers were still laced and Taylor started swinging our arms up and down in a ridiculous fashion. I giggled.

  “Not so bad, huh?” I asked. He shook his head.

  “Nah, not bad. They’re pretty great people.”

  “Just be glad my dad wasn’t there.”

  “Well, if he was there, it would have taken a lot to not punch him.”

  “Alright, Mr. Big and Bad.”

  “Damn straight.”

  He stopped moving our arms in tall loops.

  “Just woods and fields?” He looked all around the road.

  “Pretty much.”

  “Any sketchy looking trails you could mysteriously go missing on?”

  “Actually, there are several.” I teased.

  We were walking to the top of the hill on the road. Looking out there were more pine trees and fields, not a house in sight. The road eventually dead ended, a dirt trail headed back to our nearest neighbor. The clouds looked threatening as they seemed to linger over us. I looked around, worried that the bottom might drop. As soon as we were over the hill and out of sight of the house, Taylor surprisingly pulled me against him. He wrapped my arms around his shoulders and then put his arms around my waist.

  “What went down in the kitchen?” He looked curious, and I realized he was swaying us back and forth.

  “There isn’t any music to dance to.”

  “You don’t need music to dance.” He grabbed my hand and spun me around in a circle. “Was your mom mad we’re together?” He brought me back to him and I draped my arms back around his shoulders. I put a hand up to the back of his neck, bringing his face closer to mine. It was the first time I had initiated a kiss, but he didn’t take it.

  “You can’t change the subject like that.” He said, spinning me back out and back in again. “As much as I would love to take you up on that offer, my conscious tells me I need to know what happened.” I sighed.

  “She’s worried I’m following the same path she did.”

  “So…she accused me of being an alcoholic, drug addicted abuser?”

  “In not so many words.” He made a fake hurt expression. “I’m kidding. She’s scared I’m moving too fast. That I don’t know you that well and I’m already moving in.”

  “I wouldn’t mind that.” He winked.

  “I’m sure you wouldn’t.” I teased. He kept moving me around on the pavement, this way and that. The smell of honey suckle had died and I looked around at the pine trees. While the rest of the world died and turned brown, pine trees stayed green.

  “I heard you in the kitchen.” He finally confessed.

  “You did?”

  “Yea. Abe and I talked, but we could still hear you in the kitchen. You didn’t say too much.”

  “Were you offended by anything I said?” I asked, worried. His expression grew serious.

  “Yea, you did.” He said, pulling me tighter against him.

  “What did I say?”

  “You told your mom that I didn’t love you.”

  “I didn’t say that.” I countered. “I said I didn’t know if you did.”

  “I know, I got offended by that.”

  “Why?”

  He made me twirl one more time before pulling me up against him, stopping our movement.

  “How could you not know?”

  “That you love me?”

  “Yea, you made it sound like you didn’t think I did.”

  “Do you?”

  “What do you think?”

  “I don’t know.” He looked up at me, laughing. He reached up and brushed a piece of hair back behind my ear.

  “I love you, Kale Delaney.”

  “Really?” He looked surprised, running his fingers through my hair.

  “What, no love in return?”

  “This is moving really quickly. I...” I took in a staggering breath. “I love being around you. I love your smile and the way you can be polite when you want to be.” I bit my lip. “I love that you love me.”

  “So…?” A smile touched his eyes. He wanted to hear it. He wanted to hear the words.

  “Taylor, I think I love you too.”

  Right as he smiled, we felt the first rain drop. We broke out into a run towards the house, but rain came down faster as we tried to move towards the house. I finally stopped and threw my head back and watched as the rain fell from my hair.

  “What a cliché.” I shouted over the roar. And Taylor pulled me back to him.

  “You know what else is a cliché?”

  “What?”

  “This.”

  And he leaned down and kissed me. Kissed me in the rain. When he pulled back he lifted me off the ground and spun me around in a circle. The rain splattered off of us, circling round and round as I spun with him. When he put me down we both laughed and threw our heads back to catch rain drops on our tongues.

  I pulled on the lever, letting my seat fall back in Taylor’s car. We were on the way back to his place after a long jet ride to California. Both of Taylor’s parents lived there and I realized I had only seen Taylor’s rental house in South Carolina. If his rental house was beyond exquisite, what would his actual house look like?

  “Do you live next door to Tony Ricardo?” I asked, glancing at a huge mansion with an oriental theme.

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  He chuckled and turned off onto a dark road that wasn’t littered with houses. We finally pulled off onto a dirt road, trees lining either side of the dirt path.

  “Wow. You could have told me you were a hobo.”

  “Just wait.”

  I did, and a house appeared in our vision finally. It was two stories, a white house with black shutters and a black roof. A white porch wrapped around the house. He hit a button on his sun visor, and his garage door opened. I should say, one of his garage doors opened. There were five different garage doors.

  “Wow.”

  “I thought you didn’t care about stuff like this?”

  “I’m just marveling over how one person
could spend all of this money on himself. Have you ever considered, oh I don’t know, feeding a country with this sort of money?” I teased. We pulled into the garage and Taylor held his hand up when I went to open the door. He let himself out and I undid my seatbelt, puzzled. But then he was by my door, opening it for me.

  “I’ve got a surprise.” He held out his hand. I took it and let him help lift me out of the car. I looked down the garage at his additional yellow SUV, blue truck, and hot red convertible.

  “You don’t drive those much?”

  “I prefer this car, it’s a sporty black but a lot of people have it. I’m easier to spot in the others.”

  “Yea, I can’t imagine why. Why is the last garage space empty?”

  “Just in case I get another car.”

  He went over to door that linked to his house. He pulled out several keys and began unlocking several locks.

  “Paranoid, much?”

  “I’ve had a couple break-ins.” He shrugged and finally pushed the door open, he stepped back to allow me inside.

  The door opened up to a kitchen, a huge kitchen with black marble countertops and white tile floors. Light wood cabinets lined the walls, a black marble island sat in the middle of the kitchen. Looking up, I realized a huge black rack holding various pots and pans hung above the island.

  “I’ve never used any of those things.” He murmured and looked up at the items hanging above the island. He tossed his keys onto the counter and grabbed my hands. “But the interior decorator insisted I have it. Something to do with a complete look. C’mon.”

  He led me through a living room. I briefly noticed a black theme before being pulled down a hallway.

  “Taylor,” I asked, trying to slow down and look at pictures on the wall. “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.”

  We reached the end of the hall and Taylor stood in front of a door. He let go of one of one of my hands, pressing his palm into a doorknob.

  “Ready?”

  I raised an eyebrow at him and he laughed and then turned the knob and opened the door.

  It opened up to a bedroom. A grand bed was up against the back wall at the middle. The entire room had a green theme. A green netting canopy draped around the bed which had a deep green satin bed spread. The walls were painting with green swirls with painted trees here and there growing up into the ceiling with deep purple flowers. The ceiling itself was a dark purple night sky with stars, branches barely reaching the top. The furniture looked like it belonged in a fairy’s house. There were two windows on either side of the bed, settees on both of them. The carpet was a purple that matched the sky above the bed.

  My hands flew up to my mouth as I took in the room. I looked back at Taylor. He was grinning from ear to ear, taking in my surprise.

  “You have one hell of a decorator.” I breathed.

  “You like it?”

  “I…” I wanted to dive into the purple and dark green pillows on the bed and get lost in the satin. “I don’t know what to say. You’re letting me stay here?”

  “I did this for you.” He answered with a shrug. “Well, actually I had little to do with it. I kind of just made demands and-” I flew into his arms cutting him off, he held me tightly. He laughed, returning the pressure of his body against mine. I pulled back from him, only slightly, just so I could look into his eyes.

  “I love it.” I answered breathlessly.

  “Wait,” He reached over and turned the light switch off.

  The stars in the purple sky lit up, some kind of glow paint. Not only that, but I noticed a constellation, it was proportionate to the actual sky. Lights were sewn into the canopy over the bed, dim twinkling lights at the top. They sparkled over the bed.

  “Taylor…” I walked toward the bed, reaching out toward the lights. I felt his arms wrap around my hips. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Not nearly as beautiful as you.” He purred. “But, it will do.”

  We curled up in bed; a T.V. was attached to the wall over the door. Taylor turned past all the bull shit channels and hit a movie. I laid my head on his chest and we both relaxed. He pulled out a remote from the dresser by my bed. He hit a certain button and the canopy rose, the netting out of the way from the T.V. I looked up at him from my place on his chest.

  “This is incredible.” He wrapped his arms around me. “Seriously, it’s like a dream.”

  “I thought you didn’t care about these things? It’ll always be here for you.”

  I didn’t say anything. I just tried to pay attention to the movie on the screen. It was hard to concentrate when Taylor was tracing his finger down my side.

  “I could really make you uncomfortable.” He snickered.

  “How?” I giggled.

  “Taking my shirt off. You definitely wouldn’t be able to rest your head on me then. You’d be too embarrassed.”

  I blushed and looked back toward the movie quickly.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “I can make you uncomfortable too, you know.”

  “I’d like to see you try.”

  I considered it for a second. The last thing he expected was for me to be spontaneous, to initiate something wild. I leaned up and then moved over him. I saddled myself over him; my knees touched the bed on either side of his hips. His eyes widened as I bent down, my lips brushing against his ear.

  “Do you have a bathing suit here?”

  He nodded. I bent down, almost touching his lips, but then bent down to brush my lips against his other ear.

  “Do you have a bikini I could wear?”

  He nodded again, confusion but amusement covering his face. I leaned up, considering.

  “Huh.” And then I flopped back over onto my side, making no physical contact.

  “Wait, no!” He flipped over on top of me. “You can’t leave me like that.”

  “Did I make you uncomfortable?”

  He glanced down and back up. He let out low chuckle and slowly nodded.

  “I didn’t think you’d mean uncomfortable that way.”

  “I didn’t specify, now did I?”

  “You’ve got me curious.” His eyebrows were knit and he had a crooked smile.

  “I don’t think you could handle it.”

  “You underestimate me.”

  “You’re not ready for this.”

  “I think you’re the one who isn’t ready.”

  “Ok, where’s this bikini?”

  He lifted off of me and looked around the room, almost expecting it to pop out from the green walls.

  “I think it’s in my room.”

  “That’s comforting.” I didn’t stop to consider how he had gotten a bikini for me.

  He got out of bed and opened the bedroom door up and then disappeared down the hallway. I thought briefly about following after him, but after some consideration, I stayed in place. I wasn’t sure if I had the guts to go through with the short-lived idea that had flown through my head. He reappeared in the doorway and tossed me a hot red bikini.

  “Should I ask why you have this in your possession?” I was surprised that it looked like it would actually fit me. The top might be a bit big, but I could tie it tighter.

  “Probably not.” I considered him for a moment and he was shaking his head. “When they redid the room for you, I asked them to also have a wardrobe ready for you. I looked into where I kept my swim gear and they had extra items for you.”

  “Go get dressed in your bathing suit; I’ll meet you in your room.”

  He raised his eyebrows but shut the door behind him. I took a deep breath and stripped before I had time to change my mind. I yanked on the bikini a looked around the room, trying to locate a mirror. I finally skipped into the bathroom and gazed at my reflection, wondering if the bikini looked ok. My cheeks were flushed and my eyes were bright, and I worried that this wasn’t going to work.

  I hadn’t shown this much skin before to Taylor, the least he’d
seen me in was that towel the other night.

  I stepped over to the door and opened it. I peered out into the hallway and wondered which room was Taylor’s.

  I stepped back into my room and reached the closet, not surprised that it was already lined with clothes. I yanked a red and black silk robe out of the closet, quickly putting it on and tying the piece of fabric that held everything in place.

  My bare feet padded on the floor as I reached the closest door. Taylor would probably want me near him. I tapped lightly on the door and I heard Taylor tell me to come in.

  I slowly pushed the door open, only peeking my head inside. I was thankful Taylor didn’t have a speedo on, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to handle that. The sight of his abs already was causing a heatwave through my face. He had black and white swim trunks on; it matched the black and white interior of his bedroom. The color black seemed to be a theme in his house. Just like at the rental house back in South Carolina. I looked quickly around and found what I was looking for, a bathroom.

  I stepped into his bedroom and began the walk towards his bathroom.

  “Nice robe,” He remarked.

  “Thanks.” I shrugged, and walked away from him.

  He followed me of course, puzzled when I stopped inside the bathroom. The bathroom followed the black and white theme; the shower was like the one back at the presidential suite at the first hotel I stayed at. It was like a glass box against a wall, but the glass was messed up looking so you couldn’t really see anything from the outside. I went over to the shower and attempted to turn it on without getting my robe wet.

  “Kale?” Taylor was behind me, reaching curiously for my waist. I adjusted the temperature and turned to face him. I reached the fabric keeping my robe together and released it, letting it drop to the floor. Taylor looked me up and down and took in the sight of the red bikini. Then he swallowed. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes on my face.

  I pulled him into the shower and he shut the door behind us. His face was excited and curious as I backed him up against the wall and started kissing him. The water came down around us and quickly steamed up the glass. Taylor gripped my waist, and I parted his lips with my tongue. With that, you’d think I’d have the upper hand on things. But his grip had me pulled tight against him. He put a hand up to my back and I ran my fingers through his hair, feeling the water race between us. He paused, and then turned so I was up against the bathroom wall. He kissed down my neck and I let my hands trace down his chest. I traced my fingers over his abs, curious as the water made my touch slippery. I found my fingers at the top of his bathing suit and a soft moan escaped his lips. He readjusted me, lifting me up higher so I rested against the wall and on his hips. He gripped my thighs and I put a hand up to his face and around the back of his neck. His lips were fierce over mine, hungry for more. He pulled away and kissed down my neck.