Page 58 of Taylor

Yeah... that made sense. What had he been thinking? Of course he needed to be talking to her. He wanted to be talking to her but was just stuck in his routine.

“And I’m not one to give out relationship advice, but even if you aren’t dating her, I think you might owe her an apology.”

Taylor’s head snapped to him.

“I’m not sure what just happened there,” he said, pointing to where she had been. “But that girl left here in tears because all you did was glare at her,” he said in his steady, nonjudgemental voice.

Crap. He had totally done that.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said to Cash in a panic. “It was like I was stuck in time. Everything about her just seemed wrong. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“You don’t have to explain it to me... but you might want to try and explain it to her. Especially if you still think you two are dating.”

He ran his hands through his hair, almost tugging it out at the root. “Fuck!”

“I think I remember Evie saying she lived across the way from her in the same complex where her town house is.”

“Do you think I should go to her?”

“If you want to salvage this, I think you might want to.”

Taylor nodded.

He’d fucked this up and needed to fix it. What would he even say once he got there? Cash was right. Of course he should’ve been talking to her this whole time. And he may not be able to control his brain when it short circuits like that, but Cash was right there, too. He had seen the tears in her eyes when she turned to leave.

“Yeah, Evie says she lives right across the way. Number 4B,” Cash said, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

“Okay,” said Taylor.

He was going to go and fix this. He didn’t know how, but he would fix this.

“Are you good to drive?” Cash asked.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

Taylor was relieved it had been Cash there to witness that. Some people treated him with kid gloves because he was autistic, but Cash saw it for what it was. He was a fully capable, functioning adult. He just needed accommodations and a little more time to come around to changes. Which, apparently, meant he had ignored someone he was starting to care deeply about for over well three weeks.

Fuck!

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Go get your girl.”

Taylor walked out into the cold parking lot, hoping he would be able to do just that.

It wasn’t too late... It couldn’t be too late.

26

Alice

Somehow, Alice made it to her car, able to wipe away a few errant tears that spilled down her cheeks. But by the time she got safely to her car, she collapsed in sobs. The angry glare on his face was permanently etched into her mind. What had happened? She knew she had made too much of it, but she thought he would at least be nice to her. Worst case, he would ignore her. Glaring angrily at her, without saying a word . . . that was not what she thought was going to happen.

She needed to get out of this parking lot before someone like her dad happened to stumble upon her while utterly losing her shit in her car.

She managed to make it home, even if she hadn’t stopped crying the entire time. Fumbling with the lock as she went in, she headed straight upstairs to get out of these clothes. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The only color anywhere on her were her red eyes. Guess “New Year, New You” wasn’t going so well.

After pulling out her comfiest pj shorts and an old hoodie, she crawled into bed.

She would have to quit tomorrow. Hopefully, Sasha would understand. She’d seen the way he just glared at her. The thought gave way to another sob. Before she knew it, she was clutching her pillow, sobbing again.

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