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Requested by: Vicky (requested via NBY)
Couple: Chad & Taylor
Rating: M
Quote: "Can't you see why I love geometry so much, it brought me to you"
Random Stuff:
- Basketball
- Protractor
- basketball court

His large masculine hand engulfed her small dainty hand as his dark brown eyes stared back at hers.

“Marry me,” he said.

“Come on, Chad, be serious,” Taylor sighed. “It’s my last night here, I leave for Yale tomorrow.”

“I am being serious,” he said.  “Marry me, Taylor.  Tonight.”

“What?”

“Let’s get married, tonight.  Then you won’t have to leave tomorrow and -”

“Wait, you want to marry me so I won’t go to Yale?”  She asked after snatching her hand from his.  “Chad, Yale is my dream school.”

“U of A was Troy’s dream school and now he’s going to Cal to be closer to Gabriella.”

“He chose to go to Cal, Gabriella didn’t ask him to not go to U of A.”

“What’s the difference?”

“You don’t ask somebody to give up their dream for you, Chad!”  Taylor threw her hands into the air.  “If you wanted to be with me then you would have given up your dream of going to U of A to be with me in Connecticut.”

“Why would I give up a full ride scholarship?” Chad asked.  “I mean, sure you got some scholarships, but you still have to take out like a billion student loans.  U of A would give you a full -”

“I’m not having this discussion with you, Chad,” Taylor cut him off.  “I’m going to Yale tomorrow.”

“Don’t you love me?”

“Don’t you dare ask me that,” Taylor spoke through clenched teeth.  “Don’t you dare try to guilt me out of going to Yale, Chad.  It’s my dream.”

“What about us?”  He asked.  “What am I supposed to do while you’re away at Yale?”

“I don’t care,” Taylor said as tears pooled in her eyes.  “I don’t care at all, Chad, because this whole discussion has clued me in on something really big.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re not, we’re not, ready for an adult relationship,” as she spoke a tear rolled down her cheek.  “I think you should leave.”

“Taylor, you don’t mean that,” he said, trying to grab a hold of her hand.

“Yes, I do,” she whispered.  “Goodbye, Chad.”

“Taylor, come on,” he whispered as he watched her slip into her parents’ house, leaving him alone on the front porch.  “You can’t do this to me, Taylor.”

Inside the house, Taylor turned off the light on the porch then made her way up to her room.  Sobbing quietly, as to not wake up her mom and sister, she fell onto her bed and the tears gushed out of her eyes.

~*~*~

The sound of the telephone ringing woke Taylor McKessie from her dream.  She sat up and pushed her dark hair out of her face then reached for the cordless phone on her bedside table.  She hit the talk button then put the phone to her ear, “Hello?”

“Morning Sunshine,” her best friend Gabriella Bolton’s cheerful voice rang through the phone.

“Gabs, how much coffee have you had this morning?”  Taylor asked.

“This morning?  Taylor, it’s two in the afternoon,” Gabriella stated.

“What?”  Taylor’s eyes shot to the clock on the opposite side of the bed.  “Wow, guess I was more tired than I thought.”

“Well, you did just get back from Australia yesterday so I’ll forgive you this once.”

“Thanks.”  Taylor popped her neck then her back.  “So what’s up?”

“Well, Malia and I were hoping you’d come over tonight and eat tacos with us and tell us all about your trip.”

“I’m always up for tacos.  What time?”

“I’m thinking 6ish.”

“Ok, I’ll see you then.”

“Don’t forget to bring your pictures.”

“I won’t.”

~*~*~

“Are you sure you can handle this, Chad?”  Chad Danforth rolled his eyes at his cousin’s question.

“Gabriella, for the last time, Malia and I will be fine by ourselves.  I’ve been watching her all summer while you were taking classes.”

“Yeah, but you’ve never done the night time routine by yourself,” she stated, looking from her cousin to her two-year-old daughter Malia.  “And I -”

“Deserve a night out,” Chad finished for her.  “Malia and I will have mac’n’cheese for dinner, then I’ll give her a bath and she’ll be in bed on time, I promise.”

“Alright,” Gabriella sighed.

“Go, Gabs,” Chad insisted.  “Troy’s mom will be here in a few minutes.”

“Alright,” she nodded.  She knelt down and gave Malia a hug and a kiss.  “I’ll check on you when I get home.”  She kissed the toddler’s dark curly hair before she stood up.  “You call me if there’s an emergency.”

“There won’t be an emergency, but if there is I’ll call you,” he stated.  “I’m here for good, Gabs.  I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know,” she smiled and walked into his open arms.  “I don’t say this nearly enough, but thank you, Chad, for everything.”

“We’re family, Gabs, you and Malia are all I have,” he stated.  “And I’m going to take care of you two.”

“Only until you have your own family,” Gabriella said.  “Then I’ll let your wife deal with you.”

“Marriage isn’t for me,” Chad stated.  “It never works out.”   He mentally kicked himself when he saw Gabriella’s face twist in pain.  “God, Gabs, I’m sorry, I -” A car honk interrupted him.

“That’s Troy’s mom, I’ll see you later, Chad.”

He stood motionless as he watched his cousin dry her eyes with the back of her hands and then leave the apartment to join her ex-husband’s mom for a girls’ night.

~*~*~

Armed with a suitcase full of goodies for Gabriella and Malia, Taylor headed for her best friend’s apartment.  She hadn’t planned to buy so much for them, but she was racked with guilt for even being in Australia.

She had begun saving for a trip to Australia four years ago after she’d finished getting her masters in teaching and last December she had purchased her tickets. Her plan was to spend her whole summer traveling all over the great country of Australia, starting on the West coast in Brisbane and working her way to the East coast to Sydney and Melbourne.

Then the unthinkable happened the Friday before Spring Break, when Gabriella’s father-in-law, Jack Bolton, stumbled upon Troy and Sharpay Evans, the school’s Drama teacher, having sex in the boys locker room after school hours.

Before that Taylor had loved coming to East High everyday for work.  Teaching hadn’t been her original goal, but she loved standing in front of a class of high school students teaching them about psychology and sociology.  It didn’t hurt that Gabriella worked in the classroom across the hall teaching US Government and Economics.

But after the outing of Troy and Sharpay’s affair, coming to work wasn’t as fun.  It didn’t help, but didn’t hurt either, that during Spring Break Troy and Sharpay quit their jobs at East High and ran off to parts unknown.  Rumors circulated around the school and Taylor found herself helping take over Gabriella’s classes as her friend spiraled into a meltdown.

Troy’s mom all but moved in with Gabriella and Malia after Troy took off since Gabriella’s only relative, other than Malia, was Chad and he had split town after a basketball injury sidelined him during sophomore year of college. 

Taylor had offered to cancel her trip and stay home and help Gabriella, but her friend insisted that she had to go and that she’d be fine.

Taylor had called Gabriella a couple times a week, never quite sure what mood Gabriella would be in that day.  Some days Gabriella would laugh, other days she’d sob and others she wouldn’t want to talk at all. 

Taylor hated Troy for what he had done to her best friend, especially when Gabriella called in tears on the Fourth of July, informing Taylor that divorce papers had arrived and Troy and relinquished everything to her-their car, what little money was in their bank account and full custody of Malia.  Gabriella had cried every last tear over her marriage ending in the months prior to the divorce papers, but it was the news that Troy wanted nothing to do with Malia that broke her heart and brought back the flood of tears.

Arriving at Gabriella’s apartment, Taylor parked in the space next to Gabriella’s car and pulled the suitcase out of the backseat.  She yanked it up the stairs to the second floor apartment and rang the doorbell.

When the door opened she came face to face with the last person she’d thought she’d ever see again.

~*~*~

Standing in front of the stove, Chad poured the box of mac’n’cheese noodles into a pot of bowling water.  “You hungry, Lia?”

“No,” the two-year-old said with a happy smile. Something distracted her and she looked towards the living room then back at him.  “Door.”

“Door?”  Chad said, turning the burner down.  “You think somebody’s at the door?”  He scooped her into his arms then left the kitchen.  He stepped over her toys and opened the front door.

“Anie Tay Tay!” Malia squealed in delight and lunged for Taylor, who barely managed to catch her.

“Wha- what are you doing here?”  Chad asked, finally finding his voice several seconds later.

“Gabriella invited me over,” Taylor replied.  “What are you doing here?”

“I live here,” Chad stated.  “And what do you mean Gabriella invited you over?  She’s out with Troy’s mom.”

“You live here with Gabriella and Malia?”

“Yes,” Malia answered for Chad.  “Smell bad.”

Chad opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of the smoke detector going off shut his mouth.  He ran into the apartment and found the kitchen full of smoke and the noodles stuck to the bottom of the pan.

“Shit,” he muttered.

“Chad, is everything ok?”  He heard Taylor call from the living room.

“Yes,” Chad called back.  He opened the windows in the kitchen and tried to fan the smoke out of the room.

~*~*~

Leaving Malia to play with her toys, Taylor went into the kitchen and found him waving his hands in the air.  “That doesn’t do anything,” she stated.

“Where’s Malia?”  He asked.

“She’s playing with her toys,” Taylor replied as she looked into the pot.  “You might as well throw that away; you’ll never get the noodles out of there.”

“Why are you here?”  Chad asked his tone short.

“I already told you, Gabriella invited me over,” Taylor replied.

“I don’t know what my cousin told you, but she’s going to be gone until after 10:30 tonight,” Chad stated.  “So you might as well leave and come back later.”

“Let me make something for Malia to eat first,” Taylor said.

“Taylor, I have it handled,” Chad stated, stepping in front of her.  “Malia and I have been getting along fine for the last six weeks.  I’ll figure out something else for dinner.”

“I’m just trying to help, Chad.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t ask for your help.”

“Malia hungry.”

Chad and Taylor shifted their eyes to the toddler who’d come into the kitchen.

“We’ll eat in a few minutes,” Chad told her.  “Tell Aunt Taylor goodbye.”

“No go bye bye!”  Malia wrapped her arms around Taylor’s leg.  “Anie Tay Tay hungry.”

“No she’s not,” Chad stated.

“Chad, just let it go,” Taylor said.  “I’ll entertain her while you cook.  Then after dinner I’ll leave.”

~*~*~

Dinner had been horribly awkward, in Chad’s opinion.  Malia didn’t seem to care that she was the only one talking, after all, just like her mother, talking was her favorite activity.  But when Taylor tried to leave after dinner, his normally well mannered niece/cousin threw a major temper tantrum and he was forced to endure Taylor’s presence until after he’d given Malia her bath and he and Taylor had each read her a story.

It was a few minutes after eight in the evening by the time Taylor had left and Chad hadn’t had the energy to do more than collapse on the futon in the living room that doubled as his bed.  As he laid on his back looking up at the popcorn textured ceiling, he started to formulate everything he was going to say to Gabriella when she got home.  Like, why had she knowingly set himself and Taylor up when she knew that Taylor was the last person he wanted to see.  Especially since Taylor looked better now at age 27 than she had the last time he’d seen her at age 20 at Troy and Gabriella’s wedding.

Just the thought of his ex-best friend made Chad’s blood boil.  He couldn’t believe he had been beset friends, practically brothers, with the asshole that had walked out on the best things in his life-Gabriella and Malia-for Sharpay Evans.  If the son of a bitch ever had the misfortune of crossing Chad’s path, he wouldn’t live to see the other side. 

Chad had been working at a school in Honolulu, Hawaii when Troy’s dad called him and told him what was going on.  When he called Gabriella she insisted that he stay where he was until the end of the school year.  By the time the school year ended, he had sold all of his furniture and had sent everything but a couple suitcases of things he needed everyday to Troy’s parents in Albuquerque.

Since Gabriella had moved out of the house she and Troy had been renting after he and Sharpay had left town, Chad moved into the small two bedroom apartment she and Malia were living in.  They talked about finding a house to rent, but since Chad still hadn’t found a job they decided to wait even though Troy’s parents’ offered to help out.

Chad knew Gabriella appreciated her former in-laws help with Malia, but he also knew his cousin to be independent.  He had been completely shocked when she agreed to him moving to Albuquerque just seconds after he offered, he figured it was because they were all each other had when it came to family.

Their moms’ were sisters and their fathers were non-existent, at least to them.  Chad had been raised in Albuquerque by their Nana after his mom passed away when he was five and Gabriella had moved in with them when they were fifteen after her mom passed away.  Chad and Gabriella hadn’t spent much time together before she came to Albuquerque, but they had bonded quickly.

She had gotten along great with his friends.  If he could go back and do it all over again, he would have never encouraged her to date Troy.

The sound of Gabriella cursing brought Chad out of his thoughts.

“You’re home,” he said.  “You ok?”

“Yeah, just stubbed my toe,” Gabriella replied.  “How was your night?”

“I’m pretty sure you know,” he stated.  “Just tell me why.”

“You two need to see each other,” Gabriella said.  “You two are the most important people in mine and Malia’s life.”

“I get that, but did you have to ambush us like that?”

“If I had done it any other way you two would have found an excuse to not to show up or leave.”

“well, what ever you bribed Malia with, it worked.  She wouldn’t let Taylor leave.”

“She obviously sees what I do.”

“And what is that?”

“You’ll figure it out.”

~*~*~

A week later, Taylor was in her classroom at East High putting pictures from her trip on her bulletin board.

“That looks great,” Gabriella commented after coming into the classroom with two cups of coffee.

“Thanks,” Taylor said, stepping back to look at her work after accepting a cup from Gabriella.

“I really wish I could have gone with you,” Gabriella said after a few minutes.  “Then again, I would have settled with visiting Chad in Hawaii.”

“Chad went to Hawaii this summer?”

“No.  Chad lived in Hawaii until he moved back here,” Gabriella said.

“What did he do there?”

“He was a teacher.”  Then she quickly added, “A surfing teacher.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” they were greeted by Crystal Hansen, one of their fellow teachers, as she came into Taylor’s classroom.

“Hey Crys,” Taylor said happy to change the topic away from Chad.

“I only have a few seconds, but have you two seen the new, fine-looking math teacher?”  Crystal asked.  “He’s going to be a favorite of the female students, lemme tell you that.”

“I haven’t made it out of my classroom yet,” Taylor said.  “But I’m not opposed to taking a walk, especially if it’s for a fine man.”

“I need to call Lucy,” Gabriella stated.  “I think Malia has an ear infection, but you two can go.”

“I can’t, I have to work on a couple more routines for the cheerleaders,” Crystal said.

“I’ll wait for you to finish talking to Lucy,” Taylor said after Crystal left.  “I don’t want to go by myself.”

“Just go,” Gabriella encouraged.  “I’ll meet him at the staff meeting.”

“Fine,” Taylor said.

She walked down the stairs and across the building, greeting people as she passed by, before coming to a stop in front of Mr. Green’s old classroom.  Finding the classroom empty, she went in and admired the way the new teacher had decorated his classroom.  There was the typical math paraphernalia, like a gigantic protractor hanging on the wall, but there was also sports memorabilia in the room, like a giant surf board.

Hearing footsteps, she turned, ready to apologize to her new coworker but froze when she saw a pair of familiar brown eyes staring back at her.

“Ta- Taylor?”

~*~*~

Chad’s job hunt had still been in the negative when July became August.  Though he had sent out his resume to every school within two hours of Albuquerque, it seemed that none of them needed a teacher that could teach math or PE.  Then Jack, Troy’s dad, made a huge decision and accepted the job the U of A offered him coaching the Lady Redhawks’ basketball team.  Then a family emergency forced Mr. Green to leave his job at East High and move to the east coast, leaving not one, but two positions open for Chad.

Surprising everyone, especially the teachers and administrators that had been at East High when he was there as a student, Chad chose the math teacher position, but agreed to coach East High’s boys’ varsity basketball team.  Now he, like all the other East High teachers, was setting up his classroom with two weeks of summer vacation left. 

Needing to visit the restroom, Chad left his classroom and did his business.  Then as he was watching his hands, he stared at his reflection in the mirror, still not used to not seeing the curly mane that had been his hair style for sixteen years.  He dried his hands and ran them over the crew cut that now graced his head.

He had decided to get his hair cut the day after Gabriella had ambushed himself and Taylor.  He was ready for a change, besides, there was no way that Troy didn’t know how pissed off Chad was about what Troy had done to Gabriella and he would look for curly haired guys.  This way, Troy wouldn’t know it was Chad until he could see the whites of his eyes.

Heading back to his classroom, Chad stopped just outside the doorway when he saw a woman standing in there with her back towards him.  Then she turned around and it was Taylor.  “Ta- Taylor?”

“Chad?”  She looked as surprised as he felt.

“What are you doing here?”  He asked.

“I work here,” she replied.  “Your hair, it’s gone.”

“I got a hair cut,” he said.  “I was ready for a change.”

“It looks nice, but I’m confused.  Gabriella said you were a surfing instructor.”

“Gabriella,” Chad groaned.  “She ambushed us again, Taylor.”

“What?”

“Gabriella lied to you,” Chad stated.  “Yes, I gave surfing lessons during the summer to tourists, but I’m a teacher.  A math teacher.”

~*~*~

Taylor left Chad’s classroom and quickly walked back to the wing where hers and Gabriella’s classrooms were.  Once there, she stormed into her friend’s classroom, startling Gabriella.

“Why?”  Taylor demanded.  “Why didn’t you tell me he was working here.”

“Tay, it’s complicated,” Gabriella sighed, standing up.

“Uncomplicate it.”

“Taylor.”

“Gabriella.”

“He needs distraction,” Gabriella said after several seconds under Taylor’s intense glare.

“Why?”

“He blames himself.”

“For what?”

“Me and Troy.”

“What?  That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“He won’t admit it,” Gabriella stated.  “But I know he does.  He gets so mad whenever Troy is mentioned or when Malia asks where her daddy is.”  She dabbed the corners of her eyes with a tissue.  “He thinks he’s to blame for it all because he told me that I shouldn’t date anybody but Troy.”

“Then he needs psychological help,” Taylor stated.

“That’s where you come in,” Gabriella said.  “He won’t talk to me about this, Tay, he won’t talk to Troy’s parents.  Nana always said that you were the only person he would open up to.”

“Gabriella, he won’t talk to me,” Taylor shook his head.  “Not now.”

“Yes he will,” Gabriella insisted.

“No, he won’t.”

“Yes he will!”  Gabriella exclaimed.  “Because he still loves you.”

“Chad does not love me.”

“Yes, he does, just as much as you love him.”

“I do-”

“You two can lie to yourselves, each other and anybody else, but you can’t lie to me,” Gabriella stated.  “If you two weren’t still in love with each other you’d be able to appease your niece by having a civilized dinner with her, but you two can’t even do that.”

~*~*~

After the staff meeting the Friday before school started, Chad headed to the gym to shoot some hoops.  As he neared the room, he could hear somebody else dribbling a ball inside.  Glancing at the watch on his wrist, he wondered who else would be here so late in the evening.  Curious, he opened the heavy gym doors and slipped in, closing them softly behind him.

Standing on the far free throw line was a woman who he instantly recognized as Taylor by her curves.  His jaw lowered in amazement as he watched her sink five free throws in a row.

“When did you learn to do that?”  He heard himself ask, startling her in the process.  “Sorry.”  He grabbed a basketball from the rack then made his way to center court.

“I took a class in college,” she said.  “I wanted to know what the big deal about basketball was.”

“And did you find out?”

“Ask the freshman girls’ basketball teams the last four years.”

“Wait, you coach basketball?”

“You’re not the only one with surprises, Chad,” she shrugged.  “But yeah, I coach and I’m pretty good.”

“Alright, let’s play then,” he said.

“What?  Right now?”  She looked at the ball in her hand.  “I’m not good enough to play you.”

“I’m not as good as I used to be,” he stated.  “I got bolts in my knee.”

“But still, Chad -”

“Oh, I get it, you’re chicken.”  He started making chicken noises.

“Fine! I’ll play you, but I get the ball first.”

“Duh, my Nana didn’t raise a fool, it’s always ladies first.”

“We’ll play to fifteen.”

They battled back and forth and the lead changed several times.  When the score was 13 to 14 in Taylor’s favor and she had the ball, Chad found himself doing something he’d only dreamed about.  He knocked the ball out of her hands, much like she had done to him when they were teenagers, and kissed her.

She hesitated at first, but kissed him back.  As their mouths met for the first time in nine years, he backed her up so her back was against the closed bleachers.  Their kisses were hungry and sloppy.  It wasn’t until his lips left her mouth and kissed down the side of her neck that Taylor remembered where they were.

“Not here,” she said pushing him away.  “We can’t do this here.”

“You’re right, we can’t,” he said.  “We have to be professional.”

“My apartment is three blocks away,” she stated.  “You can give me a ride home.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said, putting more distance between them.  “Going home with you would make things more awkward than they already are.”  He turned and left the gym, forcing himself to take each step and not turn around and run back to her arms.

~*~*~

Taylor all but stomped her way home.  She was so mad at Chad.  Mad at him for kissing her.  Mad at him for getting her all hot and bother.  Mad at him for leaving.  Mad at him for looking so damn sexy.  Stupid Chad.

Once in the privacy of her apartment, she let out of frustrated groan.  It had been nine years since she’d last kissed him, nine years since she had felt his strong hands on her body, nine years since she had grabbed a fistful of his curly locks and kissed him until her lips were so chapped they hurt.

“I have to get out of here,” she mumbled.  She grabbed her cell phone and tried calling Gabriella, but her friend didn’t answer.  So she changed clothes and headed to Gabriella’s house, hoping to find her friend there.

When she got to the apartment building, she saw Gabriella’s car parked out front and Chad’s car missing.  She sighed in relief and pulled into the guest spot.  She took the stairs two at a time and knocked on the door.

Panic shot through her body when Chad answered the door, but it was quickly replaced with worry when she saw tears streaming down Chad’s face.

“Gabriella isn’t here,” he said, his voice just above a whisper.

“Chad, what’s wrong?” Taylor said, putting her foot in the way of the door closing.  “Where’s Malia.”

“With Gabs,” Chad said.  “I just want to be alone, Taylor.”

“I can’t do that, Chad,” Taylor said, pushing with all her might.

“Taylor, just leave me alone, alright?”  He brushed the tears from his face.  “See I’m all better.”

“Chad, don’t lie to me,” she whispered.  “What’s wrong?”

“Malia asked where her daddy was,” he said, giving up blocking the door.  “Gabriella took her to see Troy’s parents.”  He ran his hand over his short hair.  “If I had been here, if I hadn’t left her alone with Troy and gone to Hawaii, this wouldn’t have happened.  I could have stopped him from getting with Sharpay, I could have -”

“Chad, this isn’t your fault,” Taylor said, guiding him over to the futon.  “Troy made his decision.  It had nothing to do with you.”

“But I wasn’t here for them,” he stated.  “I should have known something was up when Troy came to visit me by himself. I should have-”

“Stop it, Chad!”  Taylor exclaimed.  “Troy made his decisions, there was nothing you or anybody else could do to stop him.  He had to do what he felt was right, not matter who he ended up hurting.”

“But what he did wasn’t right,” Chad insisted.  “He left Gabriella; he left Malia to grow up without a father.”

“But they have you now,” Taylor said.  “Sure you can’t give Gabriella things a husband can and you can’t be Malia’s real dad, but you can be there for them and support them.”

“I hate him,” Chad cried.  “I hate him so much.”

“I know, I do too,” Taylor nodded as she wrapped her arms around Chad’s waist and laid her head on his shoulder.  “But at the same time I know how hard the decision was for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had to make the same decision when I walked away from you,” Taylor stated.  “I had to choose between being with you and pursuing my education at Yale.  The only thing I regret with that decision is that I lost you completely.”  She brought her eyes up to his.  “After your accident during the game, I wanted to call you desperately, but I was afraid you hated me.  Especially since at the wedding you barely spoke a word to me.”

“I came to see you,” he said.  “A couple months after the accident.”

“You came to Yale?”

He nodded.

“But you didn’t come to see me.”

“I did, but you were with another guy,” he said.  “You kissed him and I knew I’d lost my chance with you.  So I moved to Hawaii and finished my degree in geometry there.”

“But why geometry, you hated it in high school.”

“Because you tutored me,” he said.

“Only because you were failing.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Can’t you see that the reason why I love geometry so much is because it brought me to you?  Not once, but twice.”

“You majored in geometry because I loved it?”

“I majored in it because we both love it.  Why did you take basketball?”

“Because you loved it and I wanted to feel closer to you.”

“Exactly.”

~*~*~

Chad smiled as he looked over at Taylor.  Ever since that day he’d seen her at Yale, he thought he’d blown his only chance to ever be with her, but now it seemed like he had a second chance.

“Chad, I love you.”

His smile widen when he heard her confession and he said, “I love you, too, Taylor.”

“Where’s your bedroom?”  She asked him.

“You’re looking at it, why?”

“I was going to say we have some unfinished business to attend to, but -” she glanced around the living room.

“They’re having dinner with Troy’s parents,” Chad stated.  “They won’t be back for another couple hours.”  He kissed her neck.  “Besides, we have unfinished business, remember?”

“You’re sure she won’t be home for awhile.”

“Scouts honor.”

“Alright, but if she comes home, you are so dead.”

Chad smirked and kissed her lips quickly.  Then he jumped off the futon and flipped it into its bed form with Taylor still on it.  He grabbed his comforter and joined her on his bed.

Their kisses started just as they had left off on the basketball court and soon their clothing, save for her bra which she insisted had to stay on, found its way to the floor.  He kissed down her body and she closed her eyes, enjoying the sizzling sensation that his wet lips brought upon her seemingly steaming body.

She was more than ready when he pushed into her and moved in and out.  He smiled down at her as her hands moved all over his chest and back, pulling him closer to her each time he pushed in.  He came before her then massaged her sensitive numb until she came around him.

He laid down on the bed with his arm wrapped around her waist and her head resting on his shoulder.

“I’m hungry,” she said after they’d laid there for awhile.

“Alright, we don’t have much, but I could make a couple sandwiches,” he said, pushing himself up.

“Sounds yummy,” she said.

He climbed out of the bed and pulled on his boxers before heading into the kitchen.  When he returned a few minutes later, she had put on her panties and was wearing his t-shirt.

~*~*~

They were watching reruns of the Cosby Show on Nick @ Nite when Gabriella walked in, carrying a sleeping Malia.  She paused in the doorway and raised her eyebrows when Chad climbed off the bed and took Malia from her.

“Apparently I missed something,” Gabriella said to Taylor once Chad was down the hall.  “Are you two back together?”

“I think so,” Taylor smiled as Chad came back into the room.  “Are we back together?”

“I don’t know, I’m not really into the whole dating thing,” he said.

“Excuse me?!” Gabriella and Taylor demanded.

“I’d be more into the marriage thing,” Chad stated.

“I thought marriages didn’t work out,” Gabriella reminded her cousin.

“For the right lady, I’m willing to take a chance,” he grinned and looked at Taylor.  “So what do you say, Tay?  Marry me?”

“Can I give you my answer in nine years?”  She asked.

“No,” Chad stated.

“Fine, then yes, I will marry you,” she smiled.

Chad grinned and pulled her closer to him, kissing her.

“Alright you two,” Gabriella said.  “I know you’re happy, but try to remember there are others of us that live in this apartment.”

“I think tomorrow we find ourselves a duplex,” Chad muttered to Taylor after Gabriella had left the room.

“Why a duplex?”  Taylor asked.

“So I can be with you, but have Gabriella and Malia close by in case they need me,” he said.

“You’re a great guy, Chad Danforth,” Taylor grinned.  “I love you.”

“I know and I love you, too.”  He pressed his lips against hers.

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