13
‘Snow On The Beach’
—Taylor Swift
Scott
It’s Sunday, I already bought my family Christmas gifts, now it’s just a matter of time I get one for Lara.
I invited all my friends to help me, but only Ashton could show up.
Danny has an extra shift; he’s taking all the ones he can get until Christmas is here.
I want this gift to mean something, and to work as an apology because she didn’t ever text me back.
I know I need to do it in person, I’m just giving her space right now.
I’m standing next to Ashton outside the mall, looking at my phone.
“Are we going to go in… Or what?” Ashton motions to the building behind us. “Also, I’m hungry. I want one of those mall pretzels.”
“Okay, let’s go.” We walk inside the mall, I look around at the stores, thinking about which one Lara would like.
“Let’s get pretzels first, so I have something to munch on.”
Ashton pulls me over to a pretzel and lemonade stand.
I purchased him the largest pretzel there is, so he would shut up.
Maybe it would’ve been better if I went alone.
We walk around the mall for a while, going from store to store, Ashton acting like a complete idiot until I stop in front of a jewelry stand.
The most perfect butterfly necklace. Lara wears silver, and it’s silver.
I immediately checked the price on it, $300. I can pull that off.
“Does she like butterflies?” Ashton asks, bending down with his arms behind his back, examining the necklace.
“She loves butterflies.”
“But does she love them enough to buy something for 300 freaking dollars?” Ashton asks.
“Well, if I could, I’d spend a million.”
“You’re in love.” Ashton's statement catches me off guard.
“Love? No way. We’re just friends.” I tell him, but I can’t even convince myself that there’s no romantic emotions there.
“I’ll take this one,” I tell the employee.
**
The Maes pull up in front of our house in their car, we are taking our minivan to the mountains.
I watch Lara step out of the car, wearing fleece-lined tights, a black pencil skirt, and a white sweater.
She looks gorgeous. She has light makeup, even though we're only driving three hours into the mountains.
I walk over to her to help with her bags. I load up her two suitcases and backpack into the back. Once we were done loading up everything, I shut the trunk, turning to look at her.
“Hey,” I say, examining her expression, but her eyes light up when I speak to her as if nothing happened.
“Hi,” she says back. “Let’s go, shall we?” We get into the back row of the car, our moms in the middle section, and dads in the front of the car.
“Steady on the road, Kyle, the baby doesn’t need stress.” My mom said, I set my duffel bag by my feet because there's no more room in the back.
“That’s it?” she asks.
“I don’t pack my whole wardrobe, Butterfly.”
“Neither do I.” I raise an eyebrow. “Seriously!”
“Did you even pack enough clothes?” She asks me.
“5 shirts and 6 pants.” I pause. “There’s a washing machine, right?”
She snorted. “Obviously, how do you think Gram washes her clothes?” I shrug.
“Barrel and clothing line?” I offer, she laughs.
“You two better not talk the whole ride.” My mom turns to look at us. I watch her put her earbuds in just as I realize I forgot my own headphones. I dig through my bag, hoping it’s just a bad memory, but nope, I indeed forgot them.
“What are you looking for?” she asks.
“My headphones, I forgot them.” She pulls one out of her ear and hands one to me.
I smile at the gesture and place it in my ear.
“Can we listen to good music?” I ask, groaning as I hear what’s playing over her headphones.
“This is good music.”
“Taylor Swift isn’t good.” She glares at me.
“Fine, I'll listen to it.” I stare out the window, watching the world pass by, “August” by Taylor Swift playing over the headphones.
Lara’s gift is in a velvet case, inside my duffel bag pocket.
Christmas is in 5 days, on Saturday. I can’t wait to see her reaction; until then, I’m going to make it up to her with actions and words.
We pull up the long, winding mountain, and Lara has already fallen asleep an hour ago. She spent most of the ride texting and scrolling on social media until she fell asleep.
We pull into the paved driveway of the cabin, which is fairly big; the roof has an inch layer of snow on top.
I get out of the car along with everyone else but Lara, who looks peaceful as she sleeps.
I sling my duffel bag over my shoulder, the small bits of snow twirling in the night air.
The cabin is long, with two windows in front, a slightly bigger porch, and a hot tub in the back.
As I step inside, I’m immediately greeted with warm air and the smell of freshly baked cookies. I look around at the pictures on the wall, the deer head above the fireplace. It’s an average grandparents' house.
“Scott!” Lara’s short grandma walks over to me with her arms open wide.
I accept her hug, patting her on the back.
“I haven’t seen you since you were a toddler.”
The last time I visited here was when I was two; my parents thought it would be fun to get out of the house, so they accepted when Lara’s parents offered.
“It’s been a while, Mrs. Mae,” I tell her, pulling back from the hug.
“Please call me, Grams.” I smile and nod. Grams it is then.
“Okay, Grams.” I set my bag in front of me and Lara’s shared room, then step back outside to grab some of her bags.
I grab a suitcase and a backpack. The suitcase is pink with white polka dots.
She’s so cute. I brought all our stuff inside the room.
The room has a pink flower painting above the bed; it looks like a hotel room.
There’s a small air mattress on the floor for me, that I wish I didn’t have to use.
As I walk back outside to grab Lara’s last suitcase, I run straight into her. I grab onto her arms, keeping her steady.
“Easy there,” I say, looking down at her. Her blonde hair is messy, her makeup is smudged, and she looks exhausted. It’s dark outside already.
“Out of my way, Scotty. I’m tired.” She yawns, pushing past me in the narrow hallway. Her last suitcase is trailing behind her. I follow her back into the room because she has the thing I went out for.
“How often do you come here?” I ask her.
“In the summer and winter, usually,” she tells me right before she yawns.
Lara opens her backpack, taking out some pajama pants and a shirt, and she walks into the little bathroom in the corner of the room to change.
I change out of my jeans into sweatpants, I leave my shirt off, though the cabin is hot.
Lara emerges from the bathroom, my eyes immediately drawn to the off-the-shoulder shirt, I snap out of it.
“Where’s your shirt!?” she shrieks. I let out a low laugh.
“I sleep without one? Like most men.” I shrug, nothing she hasn’t seen before from when I was drunk.
“Well, I’m not looking at this every night,” she motions all over my body. I give her a fake pout and cross my arms. “Just put a shirt on.” I reluctantly grab my shirt and slip it back on, she lets out a small sigh of relief, I smile at how flustered she was.
“Go to sleep, Lara,” I tell her. She crawls into bed, slipping under the sheets. “Good girl,” I whisper jokingly. A pillow flies at my head, signaling she didn’t like my little joke.
“Shut it, Scotty,” she whisper-yells. I toss the pillow back at her gently. I turn the light off and lie down on the air mattress. We lay there in silence for a few minutes before she speaks again.
“How do you feel about your mom being pregnant? We never really talked about it.” I think for a moment, the reason I got drunk wasn’t because of my mom being pregnant, it was because I can’t stand the fact that Lara was hanging out with Isaac, I hate him so goddamn much.
“I’m upset she didn’t talk to me first about it. I thought I should be the first to know, you know?” I’m staring at the ceiling, and I can tell she’s doing the same.
“I get that, I mean, you're having a sibling, isn’t that exciting?” she asks.
“I know, but I leave for college right after high school is over, when she gives birth, I probably won’t even be here to see the baby.” I don’t want the baby to grow up not knowing who I am. This is like the worst time to have another kid.
“Oh, yeah, I can see why you would be upset. Is that why you got drunk?” I rarely ever drink unless something is wrong. Anyone can easily pick that up about me.
“No, it’s because of you and Isaac.” I know I shouldn’t be saying this.
“What about us?” I think about their kiss, my fists clenching.
“I don’t like you with him.” It’s the truth, I hate them together, he’s so messed up in many ways, I get his dad beat him, but that doesn’t change anything. It’s not an excuse. “Did you even want to kiss him?” I ask.
“Not really… I like him, I just don’t want to move that fast.” She likes him. “Why do you hate him?”
“I don’t want to ruin your view of him,” I answer truthfully. If she likes him, I’m not going to ruin it for her. Lara never gets anything.
“If he’s a bad person, I don’t want to be with him.” He is a horrible person.
“I’ll tell you after the trip is over. I don’t want to make you overthink the whole trip.”
“Okay,” she says softly. “Hey, Scotty?”
“Yes, Butterfly?”
“I still hate you.” My lips curve up into a smile.
“I do too,” I say it even though it’s a lie. A very big lie. The truth is, I’m falling for my childhood enemy, I’m falling for her big brown eyes, her silky blonde hair. Her stupid smile and her stupid laugh. I spent years convincing myself I hated Lara Mae. Turns out I never hated her at all.
5 years later
‘Call What you Want’
— Taylor Swift
Lara
I slept in Scott’s arms all night until the morning. I rolled off him, but he remained asleep. I stared at him for a split second before slipping away into my room. I used that time to work on my book. Chapter 19— the day Scott and I started dating, but instead it’s my fictional characters.
I hear some noise from the living room, so I’m guessing Scott’s awake. I shut off my computer and walk out of my bedroom to see Scott pouring two cups of coffee.
“Good morning, sunshine.” I make a disgusted face at the nickname. It feels like a lifetime ago he called me Butterfly.