So i know i'm updating a little late here and i would've updated sooner but i was having a hard time uploading the chapter. :/ So now that i was finally able to get this chapter up you guys can enjoy it and see the conclusion of the argument deal.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Fourteen

Fourth of July was supposed to be one of those fun holidays. The kind where you don't have to worry about work or school or anything and could just chill with your friends. Hang out at each other's houses and have a barbecue together. Then you could watch the neighbors set off fireworks from your backyard or go to the beach and see a fireworks show. That was the kind of thing Taylor was supposed to be doing with Chad's family today. She was invited weeks ago to celebrate with them but now Taylor wasn't so sure if she should even go. It'd been a little over a week since she talked to Chad – that was a new record for them. Well, a record for not talking while being in the same state, at least. And it was driving Taylor crazy. And as much as she didn't want to, she was already slipping into her typical schedule. She'd wake up, eat breakfast and get ready for work, go to work and work all day, come home, continue to do some work, eat dinner and then do some more work before going to bed. It was good for the paper, though. So far only a couple of people returned to the Albuquerquian to help. But Taylor was still doing the majority of the work. She liked it but she hated it. The writing and research helped take her mind off of Chad, but there would always be that one instance where she would write one thing and the next thing would be about Chad.

She sent him a few texts; at first it was one when she got to work, one when she got home and one before bed. Two days later it was just two texts a day. Yesterday it was only one. She tried to keep them simple, saying 'morning', 'what are you doing' or 'miss you'. Basically she texted him whatever she thought would get some sort of response. Even if he would just send back a 'yeah' she'd feel a little better. But there was no such luck. It was like he completely shut her out. And it terrified Taylor to think about where this might be going.

She attempted to keep this hidden from her mother, who would no doubt want to know everything and get involved somehow. It was part of the reason Taylor buried herself in so much work as soon as she got home; so that way her mother wouldn't disturb her. She couldn't say for sure how well it was working, though. Especially today, when Taylor was expected to leave for Chad's shortly. Ms. McKessie walked into her daughter's room to see Taylor staring blankly at her laptop.

"Taylor what time are you leaving?" she asked.

Taylor snapped out of her trance and looked up at her mom. She tried her best not to come off as distracted or concerned. "Oh…I'm not sure. I have to get started on next week's issue," she lied.

"Just asking. I'm getting ready to leave to see Cassidy and Kari," Ms. McKessie replied. "Unless you have a change of plans?"

Taylor shook her head. "No, I'll be at Chad's." Even though right now she just wanted to be alone.

"You haven't seen him all week," she stated.

"I've just been busy," Taylor answered.

Ms. McKessie raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

Crap, she knew something. "No. No, everything's fine."

"Anything you want to talk about before I leave at all?" she pried.

The more her mother mentioned this, the harder Taylor had to fight to keep her emotions in check. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure it has nothing to do with Chad?" Ms. McKessie asked knowingly.

Taylor refused to say anything. She stared at her screen and tried to think of something else – anything else. But her silence seemed to be all Ms. McKessie needed to hear.

"Honey, you still have a lot to learn about relationships. And doing all this work is not going to help you one bit," she said. "If you're having problems you need to talk it out. But if you're just going to avoid each other then there might be nothing there. And you cannot let this boy dictate your life. I had to learn that the hard way. But I know I raised you better than that. And I know that you know if you and Chad are going to last, you need to talk things out. Whatever's going on between the two of you now, I've seen you at lower points than this. If you can't work past this then things need to end."

Taylor didn't say anything.

"The cookies are on the counter, in case you want to go over," Ms. McKessie told her. "I'll be home by midnight. Happy Fourth of July, baby." She left it at that and then walked out.

Taylor knew her mother was just trying to help and give her the proper advice, but it still scared her. She might have to break up with Chad? That was something Taylor couldn't even fathom. She knew why they broke up when they started college; because their relationship wasn't suited for long distance. They needed to be near each other, to hold and kiss each other. They couldn't do that on opposite sides of the country. But when Taylor retuned to Albuquerque and got back with Chad, she believed it would be forever this time. Maybe it was naïve of her to think that, but she really believed it. Chad may have been her first and only relationship, but Taylor couldn't imagine being with anyone else. Chad was her other half. No one could compliment her as well as he could. And when she told him that if you let something go and they don't come back it was never yours, she believed it. They broke up but she went back to him. Well, they went back to each other, really. And if everything she thought about her and Chad was wrong…what else was she wrong about? Was she even meant to be with anyone? All Taylor knew for sure was that she had to talk to Chad and get answers. She closed her laptop, grabbed her cell phone and the cookies her mother bought for the Danforth's barbecue and then drove to Chad's house. It took a bit to find a parking space down the street because so many other families were having these get-togethers, but as soon as Taylor managed to park her car she went up to Chad's house and knocked on the door. She took a deep breath and tried not to show any concern, just hoping that the first face she'd see was Chad's.

But it didn't work out that way; Mrs. Danforth answered the door instead. "Hi Taylor," she greeted with a smile. "Come on out back. We've got a bunch of games going on."

Taylor shook her head. She didn't feel comfortable walking in on their party when she wasn't talking with Chad. "Actually I'm just here to drop off the cookies my mom and I bought."

Mrs. Danforth accepted the cookies but it wasn't without suspicion. "Is everything alright?"

She didn't feel comfortable telling Mrs. Danforth that she and Chad were in a fight. "Something just came up, that's all," Taylor lied.

"Oh…" Mrs. Danforth seemed at a loss for words. "I'm sure Chad would still love to see you before you leave, though. I'll go get him for you."

Taylor opened her mouth to protest but Mrs. Danforth already went into the backyard. Part of Taylor hoped that Chad would come out and talk to her, but she didn't think it was very likely. And Mrs. Danforth didn't even seem to know that Taylor and Chad weren't speaking. So that was going to make things even more awkward.

From the front door, Taylor could see the back door leading to the backyard. She tilted her head slightly to see if she could spot Chad at all. Surely enough there he was talking to his mom. Taylor thought at one point she saw him look in her direction, but she quickly straightened herself out and looked away. Maybe this was a bad idea; she didn't want Chad to feel forced into talking to her. And if he was still mad then who was she to stick around? Taylor shook her head and decided to walk back to her car. She didn't care if anyone saw her or not, but she was pretty sure it was best if she wasn't around Chad today. Taylor took a moment to compose herself when she got back into her car; she didn't want this whole situation to get to her more than it already had. She just wanted to go someplace where she could be alone. She couldn't go back to her house because as soon as her mom would come home there would be questions. Driving out to the beach wouldn't work because there was a fireworks show there tonight. Taylor decided to drive to the park instead, hoping that there was nothing going on there. It was pretty fitting, actually. When Taylor was younger and she didn't want to be at home or she would just prefer to be alone, she would go to the park. The playground area seemed fairly empty, so Taylor sat on the swings. She didn't do much, except for a little swinging. Taylor didn't feel like swinging very high or paying attention to her surroundings. Occasionally she'd look at her phone but there was still nothing from Chad.

Taylor wasn't sure how long she was at the park for, but it must have been at least an hour since the sun was beginning to set. A few fireworks could be heard in the distance, but it didn't really capture Taylor's attention. The one thing that did, however, was a sudden "hey" coming from behind her. Taylor jumped off the swing and spun around to see Chad there. Taylor had a few mixed emotions about seeing him in front of her, but the first feeling was shock.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I just…um, I had a feeling. That you'd be here," Chad admitted.

It was the first words she heard from him in over a week. Taylor couldn't describe how relieved she was to hear his voice.

"Listen…um…. Can we talk?" Chad asked somewhat nervously.

The good feeling disappeared. 'Can we talk' meant Chad wanted to talk. Wanting to talk implied needing to talk. That meant he had something he needed to tell her, which could also be interpreted as 'we need to talk'. And 'we need to talk' could only mean one thing. It could have been possible that Taylor was looking into this too much or she was merely jumping to conclusions, but it didn't stop the fear that had been nagging at her all week.

"Um…. Ok. We can talk," she nodded. She sat back down on the swing and Chad took the one next to her. Neither of them made eye contact or said anything right away. Taylor looked down at her lap and Chad just seemed like he was thinking at first. The wait was killing her; but right now all she could do was prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

"Look…about what happened last week…. I'm sorry," Chad apologized. "I was having a real shitty day and I took it out on you. I should've been more happy for you and I wasn't and I'm sorry."

Taylor shook her head. "It's fine," she said softly.

"No it's not," Chad sighed. "I overreacted when I shouldn't have. I'm sorry I made such a big deal out of it."

"It is a big deal," Taylor replied. "Your first interview is a huge deal and I should have remembered it. Instead I just kept talking about what I did and only thinking about myself when I should have been more worried about you. I was a terrible girlfriend."

"You were never a terrible girlfriend," Chad insisted. "Not after all the stuff you did for me. You could never be a terrible girlfriend."

"You don't know that," she shook her head.

"Yes I do," he responded. "And I should've been happier for you instead of just thinking about me. You deserve someone who you can talk to and be happy for you about anything."

The last argument they had was about what Taylor deserved. She and Chad had different opinions about that, and Chad felt he wasn't deserving enough of her. Even though they apologized over the dumb fight, bringing it up again was just opening up a can of worms.

"What about you?" Taylor replied. "You deserve someone who actually will be there for you and listen to you instead of just going on about herself."

"It was only one time. And you deserved to go on about it," he said. "Imagine the rep you'll get for single-handedly bringing the paper back to its feet. That's awesome."

"It's not awesome if it makes you feel like garbage. And maybe…" Taylor hesitated for a moment before admitting to what she was really thinking. "Maybe that's all I do, is hurt people."

"You know that's not true," Chad replied. "Ok so maybe sometimes you can be a little harsh. But I need that slap in the face. Like for prom. You really did need a formal invitation to it and if you didn't act the way you did I would've thought I could get away with anything. You've done nothing but help me."

"But you deserve someone who can help you without hurting you," she said.

"Why are you going on with what I deserve now?" Chad asked.

Taylor didn't say anything. She didn't want to say anything. But that's what made Chad the most nervous.

"Tay…what are you trying to say?" he asked worriedly.

Taylor bit her tongue. She couldn't bring herself to say anything. Even just thinking it scared her. But maybe…maybe her mother was right. If this whole thing was really making Taylor that uncomfortable and she and Chad didn't know how to work past this then maybe…maybe the best thing to do was to end it. As much as it hurt her, as much as it scared the crap out of her, maybe it was for the best. But even that couldn't make Taylor admit to it. Instead she put her head in her hands and shook her head. "Don't make me say it…"

That was when Chad knew exactly what was going on. But it didn't help him hide the fear in his voice. "You're not thinking…"

She didn't answer. Chad got off the swing and moved to sit in front of her. Taylor hid her face in her hands, not wanting to show how much this was bothering her. Even after all this time together she still hated for Chad to see her so vulnerable.

"Tay you don't mean that," he said putting his hands on her shoulders.

All she did was nod.

Chad was becoming more and more visibly scared. He was not about to risk losing her, not again. "If it's about me tuning you out I'm sorry. I was mad and I took it too far. I'll say sorry as many times as you want. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry…"

Taylor just shook her head again. She could hear it in his voice; he wasn't just scared, he was terrified. She wished so much that there was another way around this right now. And Chad was trying so hard to make her change her mind, she could tell. But it took just about every ounce in her to not listen.

"What else can I say?" Chad pleaded. "C'mon, we've been through way worse than this. Why are you thinking this now? What's so different this time?"

"M gonna hort oo," she mumbled into her hands.

As scared as Chad was, even he couldn't keep a serious face with that. "Ok, you're kinda ruining the emotional moment here cause I didn't understand a word you just said."

He managed to get a small giggle out of Taylor, which made him smile lightly. It seemed like no matter what situation they were in, whether he meant to or not, Chad could always make her smile. Chad gently placed his hands over hers so they were in his grasp. He removed them from her face and into his hair, which he knew Taylor loved. Then he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"Let's try this again," he said softly resting his head against hers, though some fright was still evident in his voice. "Why?"

Taylor shook her head and held onto him tight, but still managed to answer. "Because I'm going to hurt you," she whispered.

"It was one mistake," Chad said moving his hands to her cheeks.

"And what if it happens again?" she replied, almost letting her emotions get the better of her. "I hurt you, I hurt Gabriella…what's stopping me from saying anything to hurt anyone and pushing everyone I love away?"

"Hey if either of us was doing any pushing away it was me," Chad promised. "Why would you even think any of this?"

"Last week it was you, senior year it was Gabriella…" she started.

"How?" Chad asked.

"Because I said one wrong thing and even when I tried to fix it she wouldn't talk to me," she breathed. "Two days later she left for Stanford. She didn't tell me anything, she didn't call…"

"You guys made up," Chad reminded her.

"She left because of me," she replied.

"No she didn't," he promised. "Gabs left cause Troy told her to go. It had nothing to do with you."

"Yes it did, because that wasn't even the first time something like that happened!" she cried.

That made Chad more concerned. There were a lot of private matters Taylor kept private. Some things about her, Chad didn't even learn until they got back together. Even in such a committed relationship she still wanted to keep things to herself. Whether they were feelings or memories, Taylor just didn't want anyone to know about them. But whether she liked it or not, Chad was about to get an answer out of her.

"Taylor…what aren't you telling me?" he asked.

Taylor didn't want to tell him. Thinking about it only made her more emotional. She shook her head and Chad caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. That was when he let their eyes meet and Taylor felt herself instantly melt into them. That was how she knew she couldn't hide anything from Chad. As much as she wanted to and as strong as she thought it made her, it wouldn't work.

"You can tell me," he promised. "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere."

Taylor took a deep breath and tried once more to calm herself before speaking. There was still emotion in her voice, but it was more controlled after a minute. "It was kindergarten, I think…. Cassie was still at school and my mom was at work so…so her boyfriend, at the time, picked me up. And he brought me home. The whole, entire time we were home he kept trying to talk with me or play with me…. And all I could tell him was to go away or I didn't like him and all these other hurtful things little kids say. But the next day something was different. So I asked my mom…why she was sad and what happened. And she told me, she and her boyfriend broke up." Taylor bit her lip and took a deep breath before continuing. "That was the last relationship she had. And she ended it because of me, because her boyfriend probably told her all those horrible things I said to him. That's why she never dated again, because she knew I would say mean things to the next one. I didn't just hurt an innocent guy, I hurt my mom so bad that she didn't want to bring another man around."

Most people would need to take it all in for a minute and figure out what to say. Taylor had to do that with Chad plenty of times, when she wasn't sure what the right way was to respond. But Chad was different; sometimes no matter what he just knew what to say.

"You don't know that. There could've been other reasons," he said.

"But you don't know there couldn't have been," she replied. "This is why sometimes I can't say anything right away and I seriously have to think about what's going to come out of my mouth. Because I'm scared to death that I'm going to hurt you so bad and you're going to leave."

"Hey, it's gonna take more than words to hurt me," Chad promised. "You really wanna hurt me, then shave off my hair. That'll kill me, it took years to get it this good."

That got another giggle out of Taylor, which Chad was happy to hear. He stood up and helped her off the swing before taking her into his arms. Taylor relaxed into his embrace and draped her arms around his neck. It was like nothing was even wrong. When she was in Chad's arms she felt indestructible, like nothing could hurt her. And that was when Taylor realized – she didn't have anything to worry about. This was a dumb fight. She and Chad had dumb fights all the time and all it always took was space and time so it could blow over. This was just one of those fights that needed a little more time than others. Why had she been so terrified of needing to break up with him in the first place? Chad already made it clear that he would fight tooth and nail for her if god forbid there were a real reason for them to break up. But this was by no means the reason to.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled into his chest.

"I'm sorry, too," Chad said resting his head on hers. "And as far as your mom's ex goes, if he can't handle a few bad names from a five-year-old then he's too stupid for your family anyway."

Taylor giggled.

"And the whole thing with the paper, it's really great. I should've been more excited for you and I am proud of you," he added.

Taylor raised an eyebrow. "You're proud of me for being a bitch to my boss?"

"If it got him to take the hint, then yeah," Chad nodded.

"And if you want to tell me how your interview went, I'm more than happy to listen," Taylor promised.

"I'd rather forget about that," he admitted. "Just as long as we're ok, I'm happy."

"I never want to think about that again," Taylor said. "I want it burned from my mind forever."

Chad smiled. "I think I can help with that."

He lifted Taylor's chin and brought her lips to his with a passionate kiss. As quickly as that happened Taylor was pushing her tongue against his lips, wanting to deepen it. One of her hands buried itself back into his hair and she grabbed onto his shirt tightly. His grip tightened around her waist, one of his hands even going under her shirt and rubbing her back. From there it wasn't even just kissing and making up; it was more like a battle for dominance and who could say 'I love you' more with the kiss. They became so engrossed in each other that they didn't even notice the fireworks starting to explode into the night sky.

So as i'm posting this i'm watching an episode of Drake and Josh so i don't even know what i can say about this chapter. xD I think what i was trying to do here was add another layer to characters. Taylor's mom trying to give her advice on what to do even though it's obviously the wrong advice, Chad learning something new about Taylor and the two of them realizing that they're gonna have lots of rough patches but it's not gonna change how they feel about each other or that they're there for each other. And let's be honest, i think we all know that Chaylor makeup kisses are probably some of the hottest kisses there are. Now if only i could get through writing a chapter so i can write more Chaylor-filled chapters. o.0