Cinders

~53~ Step-Dad

QUICK NOTE!!
Hey guys!!!!! Hopefully you enjoyed the 'missing two years' section. I had so much fun writing it, and I hope that you had just as much fun reading it. I decided to end the two years here, because I'm afraid that writing more will make it stale. Hopefully this book has met your expectations so far. I really wanted to show another side to Alex, and I wanted to make you fall even more in love with Taylor and Ellie, so that the next book will be even more heartbreaking :) We are now officially into Extinguished!!! Get your tissues ready, we're going in!

~~~~ Also, you guys are all amazing. Your votes and comments have meant so much to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you❤️

***

I had my 17th birthday a couple weeks ago. Dad came over to mom and Taylor's, and we had dinner and cake—It was nice.

I'm officially a senior!!!

I CAN'T WAIT to be out of school. I haven't gotta clue where I'm going with my life, but right now I'm just worried about doing whatever I feel like without getting caught.

Aria and I have started talking again. I'm still not ready to date her, but that girl has gotten even hotter...so I'm keeping that option open.

I'm at mom's this weekend, so after football practice I head there.

"Hey Taylor," I say as I walk in the door.

"Hey buddy!" He says with a huge grin.

I love this guy—Truly love him. I want him to be my step dad, so bad that it hurts. Maybe one day he'll finally ask my mom to marry him.

"Where's mom?"

"Oh, she's at the doctors. She'll be back soon," he says, flipping the channel.

"Everything ok?" I ask. Mom never goes to the doctor.

"Oh yeah—She thinks she has a UTI," he says nonchalantly.

"Yuck! You know, just because I ask you things doesn't mean ya need to tell me the truth. A simple 'yes she's fine' would've sufficed," I grumble as I sit down next to him on the couch.

Taylor laughs as he jokingly shoves me. "How was practice?"

"Fine. Coach was in a bad mood today and made us run the bleachers—That sucked."

"Ahh, that just makes ya tough. Excited for the game tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah; We're playing Columbia and their quarterback is a dick—Beating them is gonna be fun," I say, taking the remote out of his hand and flipping it to what I wanna watch.

"Hey," he shrieks, trying to get the remote back from me. We wrestle over the remote for a minute before Taylor puts me in a headlock, and steals it.

Jerk.

Surprisingly he just shuts the TV off instead of flipping it back to what he was watching. "Liam, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"I can explain!" I say quickly, thinking that he found out about me depantsing Monroe yesterday. I made him moon the entire girls' soccer team. Classic!

"Explain what?" He asks, surprised by my guilty tone.

"Err, nothing—I was just kidding. What do you wanna talk about?" I ask, feigning innocence.

Taylor rolls his eyes at me. "Yeah, we're coming back to that in a minute. Sounds like you've done something, and I'm gonna find out what—But I wanna talk to you before your mom comes home."

What's wrong with him? He looks nervous...And sweaty...Is he dying?

"You know how much I love you, right?" He asks, his voice getting thick with emotion.

"Umm, I guess?"

"I couldn't love you more, even if you were mine. I don't just want to be your mom's boyfriend anymore.—I wanna marry her. Liam, she is the absolute love of my life, and I don't want to spend any longer being her boyfriend. Will you give me your blessing to ask her to be my wife? To be your step-dad?"

The feelings coursing through me are intense, and I don't even need to think about my response.

"Heck yes!!! It's about time!" I yell, giving him a huge hug. I've been waiting for this for forever. I've wanted him to be my step-dad since they very first started dating. I'm so happy right now, I start getting tears in my eyes. Before I know it, the stupid tears start falling.

"Thank you, buddy. I promise you I'll treat her right," he says, wiping my tears away with the side of his hand. "I love you."

"I love you too, Taylor," I say, hugging him again.

"When are you going to ask her?"

"Well, I want to talk to your dad. If he gives me his blessing, I'm gonna see if Megan will go ring shopping with me the first of next week. I want to ask her next month. I was thinking about seeing if your grandpa and Justin wanted to fly back for it too—Make it a big shindig."

"I think she would like them to be there."

The door opens, and we stop talking immediately. Taylor turns the TV back on and pretends to be watching it.

"Hey Ellie Jane! How'd the doctors go?" He asks over his shoulder, nonchalantly. He's a good actor.

"Stupid UTI. They gave me an antibiotic though. I should be good in a week or so."

She sighs loudly as she throws her purse on the table and sulks to the kitchen.

"Sorry, darlin'. At least you'll start feeling better," he says, getting up and giving her a kiss.

"Yeah, I guess."

Taylor leans over to her, but I can still hear him. "After you're better, you and I are gonna spend an entire evening getting reacquainted with one another—So hurry up and take those dang antibiotics, because being away from you these last couple of days has felt like an eternity."

"Yeah well you're gonna have to wait for about a week. Sorry babe, but I'm in so much pain," she says, equally as quiet. Seriously people—Whispering isn't hard!

"I know I'm staring at the television, but that doesn't mean my ears don't work, guys." I'm completely and utterly grossed out.

Mom looks over and sees me on the couch—She hadn't noticed me there.

"Oh jeesh," she says, covering her face in embarrassment. Taylor just chuckles, not concerned in the least about this horrible conversation.

~*~

We spend the rest of the night hanging out. Mom isn't feeling well, so she just lays on the couch, drinking cranberry juice and watching tv. Since she's uncomfortable, Taylor even flips on I Love Lucy for her.

"You're actually letting me watch this?" She asks as she takes a big swig of juice.

"Don't get used to it, but yeah—Anything to make my girl feel better," he says, putting her feet in his lap and stroking her thigh.

"Come on!!! I Love Lucy? You're such a chump, Preston," I grumble as I throw a pillow at him.

"So Liam, we never finished our conversation from earlier," Taylor says, giving me a look as he blocks the pillow assault. "What did you do that you're hiding from us?"

"You know, this is actually a REALLY good episode. Less talking and more watching, please."

Taylor just laughs, dropping it as he kisses mom's head.

As I sit here watching the worst show known to man, I smile.

I'm getting Taylor as my step-dad.