Broken then Mended-part 20 (MUST READ INTRO!!!)

He looked at me, “You were right. We got the touchdown!” He ran over to Nita and picked her up and spun her around. I laughed and jogged over to where he set her down. “I’m guessing you got a touchdown?”
“Hell yeah! It’s 7-0 and only twenty seconds into the game baby!!” I gave her a hi-five and we walked back to our team. They were huddled again and all had smiles on their faces. We joined the huddle. Alex looked at us. “You two got another game plan?”
I looked at Nita, to the other team, and back to Nita. “Yes, we do.” She looked at the other team and evaluated. She nodded for me to start, and I did. “Okay, this is how its gonna work. I know Andy and Darren. Andy’s a fast runner, Darren has a good arm. Darr will be quarterback, Andy the receiver. Nita, you will weasel your way through the crowd to tackle Andy, Alex, you will follow her. Like if he makes a sharp left, instead of her having to catch up, you will be there to intercept him – or the ball, whichever works. So Nita, you will take right field, Alex you will run up left. That way he is in between you. Kiowa, instead of blocking, tackle the person in front of you – I’d go for Ashley – she’s awesome, but she’s told me she can’t play football. Don’t be rough, but get her to the ground. When she is down, follow behind Andy. If you get a chance, intercept the ball and try to run it back to get a touchdown. Everybody else, block.” Everyone nodded and we got into positions. I stood beside Bronson and Nita. In front of me was Jackson, and in front of Nita was Nikki. I planned out how to get around him and to Darren before he threw the ball. It took me a few seconds, but I got it. I could easily get Nikki to the ground, and Nita had a better chance of weaseling around Jackson. I whispered to her, keeping my eyes on Jackson, “Senior year, our school just won state, the after party at Andy’s. We played – remember we established a new move?”
She stared intently at Nikki and replied, “Yep, The Switch?”
I nodded. She nodded, too, and asked, “When?”
“Three – my count.”
She dipped her head once, and put her right foot a little more towards me, I put my left foot a little towards her – so discretely the two people in front of us didn’t see it. Peter was in front of Darren and had the ball. He called out the first number, and I whispered, “One.” He called out the second, “Two.” He called out the last number and I waited. As he yelled, “HIKE!” I said, “Three!” We switched positions so fast the two people in front of us didn’t know what happened. While they were in a little confused moment, I tackled Nikki, and left Nita to do what she does best. Kellan was playing left tackle – I thought so, he was the biggest one there. But big doesn’t include balanced. I got to him and faked to go straight through, and as he started running forward to tackle me, I made a quick right and went around him – he tackled the dirt. I was next to Darren. I spread my arms and tackled him at the waist – he still had the ball. He was on his knees and threw it. I didn’t look to see if it went out, got intercepted, or went right to Andy. I just got him down. I pinned his shoulders to the ground and then stood up. I felt something thick and liquidy on my leg. I looked down and my whole right leg was covered in mud. He was in a giant mud pile. I laughed and held out my hand to help him up, like he did for me. Subconsciously I knew he would do it, but I still kept my hand out for some reason I don’t know. He took it, and I started pulling him up. He was stronger, and bigger, and succeeded in pulling me down into the mud next to him. I landed on my stomach, getting a little mud on my face. “OH, no you didn’t!” I gathered mud into my hand and spread it all over the front of him. “Hell no! I like this shirt!” He spread mud on me, and we continued in the mud fight. Between throwing mud and laughing and cursing, I saw Kiowa running towards our goal. I paid attention to him for a second – he had the ball in his hand!! It got intercepted!! I stood up with Darren and yelled, “FRICK YEAH! GO GO GO!!” He kept running, and nobody was following him. “Come on, only five more yards!!” I crouched down in anticipation. “Three, two, one, TOUCHDOWN!!” I jumped up and yelled in excitement. I sprinted to our touchdown line and jumped on his back, I was still cheering. He dropped the ball and was holding me up piggy-back style. I had one arm on his shoulder, supporting my body, and the other was up above my head, my hand in a fist, waving in the air. “14 NOTHING BABY!!! WHOO!!!” He set me down and Nita came over. We double-fived and cheered a little more. We played this way for the rest of the game. We got a touchdown, the other team got the ball, we intercepted, got the ball again… It was routine, but still fun. We called half time at
7: 30. By half time, the score was 35-7. Both teams gathered in the middle to have some snacks. Darren and Kellan ended up sitting next to each other, so me and Nita did, too. Nita sat on Kellan’s lap and I sat on Darr’s. Andy was on the other side of us. Peter came over with a big box and some waters. “My beautiful wife did us the honor of making all of us sandwiches. We have PB&J, Tuna, and Turkey. Take your pick.” He set the box down and people gathered around to grab their sandwiches. Darren gently pushed me off his lap and stood up. He looked at the four of us. “What do you guys want?”
At the same time Nita and I said, “Turkey.”
He nodded and looked at Kellan and Andy. Kellan said, “I’m not hungry.” Nita slapped him and spoke for him, “He will have Tuna.”
Andy said simply, “Whatever’s left.” Darren nodded and walked over to the box. I laid down on the grass, Nita came to lay next to me. I didn’t say anything – I was thinking about the failing relationship with me and Taylor. Ok, I wouldn’t call it failing yet, but it wasn’t working as well as it should. I mean, we took the ‘next step’. We ‘got intimate’. Shouldn’t that entail some kind of… I don’t know, closer bond? Ever since the hotel, he’s been pulling away – and it’s scaring me. I don’t get the impression he’s the kind of guy who bales as soon as he gets what he wants, but what if? I mean, 90% of all the other guys do it, why not him? I just hope I can fix this… I really do love him, and I just want this to work out so much… Nita pulled me out of my thoughts asking, “Bri, hun, are you alright?”
I looked at her, confused. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I can see it in your face. What’s up?”
I looked back to the sky. “Nothing.”
“Liar.”
“Really, I’m fine.” I pursed my lips and kept my eyes on the sky. I heard someone lay down on my other side. Darren set the sandwich on my stomach. “Okay, Annie, what are you lying about this time?”
I looked at him questioningly. “What do you mean?”
He circled my face. “I can see it in your face. Something’s wrong, and you’re denying it. Spill.”
I laughed nervously – hoping nobody heard the false note, “Really, I’m fine.” I sat up and started eating my sandwich. My friends sat up as well.
“Annie, you’re lying. After knowing you for sixteen years, I think I can tell when you’re lying. Something’s up.”
I kept eating my sandwich, trying to portray that I can’t talk with a full mouth. All too soon, my sandwich and the only way to avoid answering their questions was gone. Before they could ask I started drinking water out of the bottle next to me. I wasn’t actually drinking, but I kept the bottle on my lips and kept my eyes on the ground. It only lasted maybe thirty seconds. Nita took the bottle away and looked at me. She opened her mouth, but before she could talk Peter announced, “I’m really sorry, but I have to cut this game short… That was Melissa (Screenwriter for the movies) on the phone. She has the scripts for us vampires ready. She wants us at the studio ASAP to get and review them.” There were moans and groans and the vamps all stood up. Nita and I stood up as well. Darren and Andy hopped up – Andy started talking with one of the wolves, and Darren stayed next to me. Nita called Peter over for who knows what. “What’s up?” he said as he reached us.
“When you say the vampire’s scripts are ready, is that Cullen vampires, or Cullen and co-star vampires?”
“I’m sorry, Nita, but you’ll have to wait for your script. She only has the main vampires ready. Not even the wolves’ scripts are ready yet.” She nodded and hugged him goodbye. He gave me a goodbye hug as well, and left the clearing. She hugged Kellan. “Do you need a ride to the studio?”
“Nope. Jackson’s gonna take me. I’ll be done and at Bri’s by midnight – promise.”
She nodded and waved him off to Jackson and turned back to me. “What do we want to do tonight?”
Darren shrugged, “I’m up for anything.” He looked at me. “It’s your call.”
I looked down and winded my hands together. “I have an idea, but I don’t know if you two wanna tag along…”
“You don’t know that. Walk and talk, come on,” Nita grabbed my elbow and started walking out of the clearing. Darren called Andy over and I said, “I wanna go to my Dad’s storage shed.”
Nita raised an eyebrow, “Why? What’s there?”
“Umm… When I used to be down in the dumps or didn’t feel good… I used to play. Maybe it could help me out right now.”
I kept walking, focusing on how to answer the ‘why do you want the piano now?’ question. I reached the top of the trail and realized they weren’t with me. “Uh, guys? Guys you there?”
“Yeah, yeah we’re coming.” It was Darren’s voice. A few seconds later they emerged out of the trail and onto the little paved road we jogged on. They all had confused, worried, and shocked looks on their faces. “Guys, you ok?”
Nita came and stood in front of me. “Yeah, um, but are you?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Darren stood next to me and put an arm around me. “Annie, you haven’t played since your mom died. Not even when Caleb… You didn’t even play then.”
I looked down. “I know. It’s weird, but I kinda miss it. And now I have plenty of free time to play so…” My group didn’t respond with a yes or no answer, they still looked worried. About what, I had no idea. But I would go look at the piano on my own; we would do something together instead. We reached the car and everybody climbed in. Once again, Darren took my hand. Nobody said anything, so I chose what we were to do. I headed for the movie theater. I had no idea what was playing, but I would let them choose. I pulled into the parking lot, shut off the car, and got out. After a minute everyone else got out, too. We walked into the theater and to the ticket counter. I handed Nita my debit card. “Choose whatever you want to see – I’ll go get in the snack line.”
She nodded and went up to one of the workers. I walked over to the snack line and waited for my group to catch up. I was almost to the front of the line when they came to stand with me. Nita handed me both my ticket and the card. I stepped forward and looked at the worker. I recognized that face. The silky brown shaggy hair, deep blue eyes, and tanned skin. I asked in shock, “Jason?” The worker’s head shot up and I got the full view of his face. It WAS Jason! He looked at me for a second and realization hit him. “Taylor? Is that really you?”
I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, it is. Wow, my Jason, all grown up. You’ve matured a lot, haven’t you?” Jason – he was my first boyfriend. I was fifteen, he was seventeen. I remember it gave my parents a heart attack when I told them he had a car. He leaned over the counter and gave me a hug. I hugged him back then pulled away. “Wow. So what are you now, sixteen or something?” he asked jokingly.
“No, I’m gonna be nineteen in August.”
He rested his elbows on the counter and his head in his hands. “Really? It’s been almost four years since I saw you last.”
“Yeah, I know. How was it moving to New York?”
“Great. My senior year was killer. Them New Yorkers know how to party.”
I laughed and replied, “Well, I think I’ll decide that for myself. So what brings you back to California?”
“My 21st birthday actually. My parents helped me get an apartment out here. I loved New York but… It’s too cold in the winter. I like it here much more.” He smiled, showing his perfect white teeth. “And besides, there are prettier girls here.” He grabbed the air just in front of his forehead, like grabbing the brim of a hat, and nodded towards me. I looked down and blushed. “Well I’m glad your back. We’ll need to catch up sometime.”
“Sure do Taylor. I’m sure you have plenty of stories.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”
“I’ll tell you while preparing your order. What do you want?”
“Tw- no, Andy needs one all to himself, so three large popcorns, two medium Dr. Peppers, and one large Dr. Pepper.” He nodded and started scooping the popcorn into the buckets while talking over his shoulder, “I had some of my friends keeping tabs on you for me. You know, incase something happened or you went off the deep-end. I don’t want anything happening to my first love.”
I felt my face go redder and I looked down again. “No, you wouldn’t.”
He came over with the three popcorns and drinks. “Here you go. Now go enjoy your movie.” I started handing him my card but he caught my hand. “No, it’s on the house. Think of it as insurance I’ll see you again.”
I grabbed a few trays and put the items on them. I grabbed a pen out of my purse and some napkins. On one of them, I wrote my number. I handed him the napkin and picked up the trays. “Call me on your birthday. Me and Nita will see to it you have a good time.”
“What do you mean by that?”
I laughed, “You weren’t keeping very good tabs, were you? You’ll see.” I started walking away and he yelled at me, “I’m counting on that Taylor!” I laughed a little more, yelled back, “I go by Bri now,” and reached my friends who had migrated to the eating area sometime during my conversation. I handed Andy his popcorn and drink, Darren his drink and a popcorn, and held on to mine and Nita’s drink and popcorn. Nita led us to the ticket taker and he showed us to the theater. We walked in and found our seats. Nita went first, me after her, Darren behind me, and Andy behind him. We sat down and Nita asked, “So, who was that?”
“That was Jason Bell.”
She shook her head. “You know, my first boyfriend? Moved to New York?”
She thought for a second, then nodded, “Yeah, I remember him. He’s back in California?”
I nodded, “Yeah, he’s gonna be 21.” I laid my head back on the seat and closed my eyes. The previews started and I fell asleep immediately.

2 days later:
I woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon and footsteps coming down my stairs. I sat up in my bed and stretched. Taylor came around the corner with a big tray full of food. I smiled and got up on my knees. He set the food on my night stand and wrapped his arms around my waist. He lifted me off the bed and set me down. I got on my tip toes to kiss him, but he pulled away. He made it look like he was playing, but I saw in his eyes he just didn’t want to kiss me. I played along and laughed, too. I got back on my bed and asked, “What’s all this for?”
He brought the food over and set it in front of me. “I’m apologizing for not coming back the other night – it was just so late, and I decided to sleep at my house.”
“Don’t worry about it. Darren and Nita took good care of me. They made sure I was in bed on time.”
He laughed weakly and I started picking at the food. He looked down and I could see there was more. “Is something wrong?”
He looked at me guiltily and said, “Look, my friends and I had a lot of fun the other night, and we didn’t get to totally catch up. We wanna go out again…”
I sighed and put the piece of bacon I had in my hand back on the tray. I didn’t mention that we had lunch today with his family to make up for dinner. “So this wasn’t just apologizing for the other night. It’s persuading me to be fine with you going out again.”
“Not persuasion, another apology that I’m going out and aren’t taking you with me.”
I raised an eyebrow, “And what made you assume you could go?”
“Well, I am a legal adult, so I can go out whenever I want.”
“Even if that means blowing off your family again?”
He rolled his eyes, “We can reschedule.”
I shook my head. “We’ve already done that! You know, they aren’t gonna like me if they never meet me.”
“The second they see you they will love you. I’m leaving around four, so I want to spend some time with you.”
I shook my head, got out of bed and walked upstairs with no words towards him. Nita and Kellan were watching TV with Contrail spread out on their laps. I smiled to myself and walked into the kitchen where my cell phone was charging. I took it off the charger and walked outside into the pool house. I speed dialed DARREN and put it on speaker while changing into my skimpy Cheetah bathing suit. He picked up and started with, “Let me guess, he baled again didn’t he?”
“Sure did. Wanna come over?”
“Always do. Be there in ten?”
“Just come around back.”
“Ok, see you soon.”
I hung up and walked out into the sunny day. I put on some sunglasses that were in the pool house and laid on a lounge chair. I could feel the sun soaking into my skin giving me an even deeper tan. I was falling asleep when I heard my gate open and close. “Annie? You back here?”
“Pool!”
I took off my sunglasses and looked to my gate entrance. Darren walked in, shirtless and in his swim suit. I stood up, pulled my hair out of its ponytail, and jumped into the pool. I came up and motioned for him to join me. He cannon-balled in and swam over to where I was floating. “So what do we have planned for today?”
I looked at him and smiled. “How about a match of water volleyball? Boys VS girls?”
“Fine with me. I’ll go get the net.” He pushed himself out of the pool and went into the pool house to grab the net. I yelled at the top of my lungs, “NITA!! GET OUT HERE QUICK!!!” She came rushing out with an alarmed look on her face. She saw I was in the pool, and Darren was coming out of the pool house with the net and rolled her eyes. She stuck her head inside and said something to Kellan who was coming outside. I yelled to them both, “Come on! Water volleyball – boys VS girls!”
Nita ran into the pool house to change into one of the suits she had here, and Kellan went to go get his out of his bag. Darren threw half the net in the water – I grabbed it and swam to the other side of the pool. I attached it so the bottom of the net was just above the water. Nita came out in a black one-piece that literally looked like an hour glass. It covered her chest, then curved in, exposing her sides, and went back out to cover her bottom area. She jumped in, and Kellan came out in his swim-suit and jumped in. Darren threw me the ball and dived in. Before we could start playing Taylor came outside. “Hey, Bri, my… um… friends called, and we want to all start the day early. We’re going to lunch in an hour so…” I nodded and served the ball, ignoring his hesitation on ‘friends’. “I’ll have my cell if you need me.” Kellan bumped the ball back and Nita sent it back over. “Yeah, yeah, go have fun.” I didn’t see him leave, I just heard the sliding door. We volleyed the ball back and forth until Nita got it where she wanted it. I saw what she was gonna do and swam to the bottom of the pool. I pushed off the bottom and launched out of the pool just in time to spike it over the net. We got the point and laughed.
We played volleyball all day long – im serious, we ate lunch around noon, came back to play, dinner at six, came back to play, and only went inside because it got dark and we couldn’t see the ball. By the time we gave up we were all dark brown tanned and tired. We all went inside and I gave everyone a water bottle. We dried off then lounged on the couch, watching TV.
It was about ten when Darren stood up and stretched. “Well, it’s about time I go home.”
My eyes didn’t leave the screen while I said, “Yeah, thanks for coming over. Drive safe.” Kellan and Nita mumbled sleepy goodbyes and he left out the front door. I grabbed the remote and started flipping through random channels. I heard Kellan and Nita get up and start down the hall. The bedroom door opened, but before it closed Nita asked me, “You going to bed?”
“No, I’m gonna wait up for Taylor. He should be back any minute.”
“OK, don’t stay up too late, though.”
“Yeah, yeah. Goodnight.”
“Nite.” I heard the door close and I went down stairs to shower and change.

When I was all clean, I brushed my hair, put it in a ponytail, and put on some basketball shorts and my yellow tank top. I took a good half hour shower, so he should be home by now. I groggily walked up stairs to ask him how his day was, but he wasn’t there. ~Maybe he’s on his way back~
I walked into the kitchen and put on some tea. Tea always calmed me down… I leaned against the counter and waited. A few minutes later the teapot started whistling. I poured the hot water into my mug with a chamomile tea bag. “Sugar, sugar, sugar…” I mumbled, fumbling around in the fridge for the bag of sugar. I found it, put a teaspoon or two in my tea, and went into the living room. I set the tea on the coffee table and kneeled in front of the cabinets to look for a movie. “I’m thinking funny,” I said to myself. I ran my finger over the movies, reading the titles. I came across a blue cover with clouds on it and pulled it out. The movie was Down To Earth, starring Chris Rock. I love this movie!!! I hopped up and eagerly put it into the VHS player. I flipped on the TV and sat down with my tea in my lap.

~It’s midnight, and he still isn’t back! I hope he’s okay…~ That was my thought as I started rewinding the movie I’d just finished watching. I paced through the living room and kitchen until I heard the beep notifying the movie was rewound all the way. I sighed and murmured into the empty air in front of me, “He was just having such a good time, he lost track of it… He’ll be home any minute.” I sat on the couch and pushed ‘play’ on the remote and began watching the movie a second time.
During the movie, a major storm started outside. The branches on trees were being broken off, trash cans being blown down the street, and when I looked out the back window, the pool water was sloshing over the sides. And the thunder was booming and lighting sounded like the crack of a whip. I jumped at the sound – it’s never this stormy! I shook off the feeling and un-paused the movie. An hour later the movie ended, and he still wasn’t home. I stood up and started pacing and muttering reassurances to myself.
“I’m sure he’s okay, the storm is just slowing him down. We usually don’t drive in this weather, so maybe he’s just waiting till it passes. I hope he’s okay. I know he’s okay, he has to be okay. God, what if he’s not ok? I just hope nothing happened to him…” In the middle of talking to myself a door down the hall opened. I looked up; expecting to see my dad or Nita, but it was Contrail in a cute little pink nightgown, rubbing her eyes. “Auntie Bri?”
I hurried over to her and picked her up. “Hey, honey, are you okay?”
She wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. In a sleepy voice she said, “I heard you talking to yourself. Are you okay?”
“Oh, honey I’m sorry. Did I wake you up?”
“No, I was already awake. The storm won’t let me sleep.”
“Ok, I have an idea. I’ll go put you in bed and get Nita. She’ll know what to do. Kay?”
I could feel her nod into my shoulder. I took her back into her room and laid her in her bed and covered her with the blanket. “I’ll be right back, sweetie.” I started walking out but she stopped me. In a cute voice that imitated Nita perfectly she said, “Wait, but you didn’t answer my question.”
“What question?” I said, turning back to her.
“Are you okay?”
I smiled and replied, “Of course I am. I’ll be right back.” I swear they resemble each other so much it’s uncanny. It’s like having a second Nita! I quietly walked a little further down the hall to the guest room, which is now Nita’s room. I made sure to avoid the creaky floor boards and not wake my dad. Slowly, I opened the door. Unless you knew the trick, this door creaked horribly. I turned the knob, pushed down, and opened the door slowly so I didn’t wake them. But that was unnecessary, because she was already awake and making out with her fiancée. I stood in the doorway, waiting for them to notice me.