"L A B E L S"

Episode 33

Once they get inside she stands there in the entrance of his house for a moment in uncomfortable silence.

He notices that water is falling from her dress and it suddenly comes to him to offer her a towel. "Would you like a towel?"

She smiles briefly and nods. "That would be nice."

He quickly walks to the hallway bathroom and grabs a towel before walking back into the entrance way. She takes the towel with a small grateful smile. "Thanks." She wipes her face and tries to remove the mascara as Joe gets another idea.

"I think I might, uh, have some spare clothes if you..."

"Your sure?"

He nods quickly, eager to get her whatever she needs. "Yeah, yeah. Just come with me I'll find you something." He turns and begins walking up the stairs.

Taylor follows Joe up the stairs and stands at his door way as he searches through his dresser drawer for a spare shirt and pair of jogging pants. He finally finds them and hands them over to Taylor. She smiles at him and gives him a questioning look. "Bathroom?"

"Oh, yeah, down the hall to the left."

She nods and walks out of his room and down the hall to the bathroom.

He begins looking around his room and it suddenly hits him that Taylor Swift is in his house, he rushes around trying to straighten up his room and put things away that he doesn't want her to see. She walks in and sees him scrambling around his desk.

She leans against his door frame with a small broken smile. "Thank you for the clothes."

He quickly turns around, making it obvious that he was trying to hide something. "No problem."

"I promise to return them as good as new."

"No need, I never wear those any more anyways."

She nods and looks down at the floor in sorrow.

He begins walking towards her with a question on his mind. "So...Taylor, not that I'm not thrilled that you're standing in my room right now wearing my clothes but...shouldn't you be at a dance or something?"

"Yeah..." Taylor smiles sadly and walks further into Joe's room, sitting on his bed. "...I went...and now I wish I hadn't."

He walks over to his bed and sits down beside her. "What happened?"

She looks over at him with the same sad smile. "Well...I made a friend...found out my best friend was a lying bitch...then found out that my boyfriend is a lying ass who was cheating with my lying bitch of a best friend." She chuckles and shakes her head. "Perfect night, huh?"

He turns to her with sympathy in his eyes. "Taylor, I am so sorry."

She shrugs with a sad smile and looks him in the eyes. "You warned me. Scarlett warned me; I was stupid, this is all my fault."

"Hey, none of this is your fault. Nick is an ass and Chelsea is a bitch but you...you are amazing and you have no reason to blame yourself for any of this. They were stupid. They lost an amazing friend, beautiful girlfriend, a person who is willing to see the best in everyone."

A smile begins to appear on Taylor's face and she whispers. "Thank you."

He stares at her for a minute before glancing at his bedroom door then back at Taylor with a question. "Did you maybe want to watch a movie or something? It might get your mind off things for a while."

She thinks about it for a moment before turning to Joe with an unsure look and standing up. "No, that's okay. I should probably get home, it was rude of me to just barge into your house uninvited." She begins walking towards the door.

He stands up and gently grabs her arm, stopping her from leaving. He smiles when she turns to face him. "You don't have to go, Taylor. You came here...for whatever reason...and I'm glad." He smiles at her sweetly.

He drops Taylor's hand and she looks up at him with seriousness. "I came here because you've been a better friend to me in the past few weeks than Chelsea or Nick ever were and I knew if there's one person that could make me smile after everything that happened tonight...it's you."

He snickers and shrugs, pretending to be smug about the compliment. "Yeah. Well, I try."

She chuckles and points to her smile. "See?" She motions behind her to the door. "I should get going."

"You should stay. My mom has like the world's largest collection of chick flick's....your choice."

She smiles and looks at him for a moment, before nodding and agreeing. "Okay, sure. If my options are to either go home and listen to my mom yammer on about the bills or sit here and watch a movie with you...I promise, you'll win every time."

~~~

Dani walks through the door of her house just as her dad walks into the living room.

Mr. Landon looks over at Dani in confusion before walking over to her. "Dimples? What are you doing back so soon? Didn't you go over to Joseph's?"

She nods with an expression that looks so pained, it's almost unbearable. She takes off her jacket and begins walking into the living room, hiding her face from her father. "Yeah, uh...he wasn't home."

He follows his daughter over to the couch and stands behind her. "Oh. Well, did you try calling him? Maybe he went over to the coffee shop or something. That is where you guys usually go, isn't it?"

She nods but stays silent.

Mr. Landon comes up behind her and notices her hand rise to her face as she wipes away a tear. He puts a hand on her shoulder and looks down at her concerned. "Honey, what's wrong?"

She turns around to face her father and shakes her head, trying to force yet another smile. "Nothing, nothing. I'm fine. It's just allergies...or rain or something." She smiles up at father after wiping away another tear.

He looks down at Dani in seriousness. "Honey, it's okay to cry. I know you think you have to be tough, for whatever reason. But it's okay to show weakness sometimes, it just makes you human."

She shakes her head and closes her eyes, lowering her head for a moment as the tears build. She raises her head, opening her eyes as the tears fall freely and she speaks with a broken voice. "No, it's not. I have to be strong. Mom would've wanted me to be strong; for you and for myself. She would have thought that I was stupid and naïve for crying over a guy." She chuckles sadly and wipes away a few more tears.

Mr. Landon shakes his head and sits down in a chair in front of Dani, holding her hands in his as she stands above him. "No, that is not true. Your mother loved you more than anything, Dimples. She would never want you to be unhappy or be in any kind of pain. I can see how much this is hurting you and keeping it bottled up isn't doing anybody any good, least of all yourself. Its okay to cry and it's okay to be weak sometimes. I know it's not something you're used to, but it's okay to show how you feel. It's okay to be vulnerable every once in a while."

She lowers her head as the tears continue to fall.

He stands up and wraps his daughter in a tight hug before speaking softly in her ear. "If Joe can't see how wonderful you are...you are going to have to let him go, Dimples."

She pulls away from him and looks up at him with wide eyes in shock that he had seen right through her.

"I know you care about him but the past few weeks have been torture for me, seeing you mope around the house because he's not been around. If you truly love some one...you have to let them go. You have to let them see in their own time how much better life is with you in it. If it's truly meant to be...he will come back, I promise."

She looks up at her father with red eyes and small smile as she begins speaking with a hoarse voice. "When did you get so wise?"

"I just watched about three hours of Dr. Phil reruns."

She laughs and hugs her dad once more.