Analise

Chapter Twenty

Taylor wakes up and flutters her eyes open. She sees it's still dark and that it's around 1 o'clock. She looks down at Austin and a small smile comes to her lips. She unwraps one of her hands and puts it up to his cheek. His face isn't soft, but it's not prickly either. She traces along his jawline all the way up to the top of his forehead. She smiles as she sees his hair in every direction. She puts her hand through his hair and notices how soft it is. "You look mesmerized." She hears and jumps.

Austin shuffles a little and tightens his grip on her, but stays asleep. She looks over to Chloe and takes a breath. "I didn't know you were up." She says glad that it's still dark because she knows her cheeks are a bright red.

"Woke up a few minutes ago." She says and Taylor nods, not knowing what to say. "Taylor, it's fine that you like him." She says with a light laugh. Taylor smiles and lets out a small laugh herself.

"I know, it's just..." She doesn't know how to finish.

"Just not something you thought would happen?" She asks and Taylor nods.

"He's my brother's girlfriend's cousin. My bestfriend's cousin. I didn't even remember it was him when I first saw him." She says and looks down at him.

"Yeah, but don't worry because I think everyone approves." She says with a smile. Taylor turns her head up confused.

"Everyone approves?" She asks and Chloe laughs.

"Everyone knows you and him have chemistry and we're all just waiting to see how things play out," Chloe says with a little pain in her voice.

"I hadn't realized that he..." She breaks off again.

"Don't worry we've all had those moments." She says and Taylor nods her head. "Now, I'm gonna go back to sleep before your annoying brother comes and wakes me up." She says getting comfortable. Taylor does the same and goes asleep within a few minutes.

Chloe stays up and just watches Taylor. She feels a slight pain in her chest but knows she needs to get over it. She shakes her head, takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes.

***

"I am not," Leland says taking a turn onto the highway.

"You so are. You're always pushing us around, making sure we don't do anything bad." Layla says agreeing with Julia.

"I told you, you're the Dad of the group," Julia says with a smile.

"Ok, then Layla's the Mom of the group." He says and she laughs.

"No, she's not Mommy enough. If anything it's Analyze or Taylor." Layla says and Taylor looks at her shaking her head.

"I am not Mommy material." She says and Julia nods her head.

"You keep everyone together, you make sure we don't get into bad situations, you've got a hard side that isn't afraid to come out and you've got a soft side that only the people you are close to get to know." She says and Taylor just smiles as she has food in her mouth.

Taylor watches as Layla gets out a stack of cards. She looks at Layla with questioningly. "You're on." She says after swallowing.

"So, let me get this straight. You have two cards in the middle, five on the side of those and then the rest of the deck is separated between the two of you. Then you flip over the middle and begin to put cards down?" Carson asks watching as they play.

"Carson, if there's a five down, you can put a four, five, or a six. You can only set one card down at a time because then you have to pick one up again. So you lay one, pick one, lay one, pick one. Whomever get's through their cards first wins. Aka, why it's called speed." Leland further explains.