Chapter 12 – Flash Forwards

December 24, 2014 Thursday

"Yes babe, I'm on my way there right now." Laura was making her way to her car while talking to Taylor on phone. She was leaving for New Jersey today. She always looked forward to spending the holidays with her family. It's always the best time of her year.

"Ugh, I really want to go with you. Why couldn't you just bring me?" Taylor, on the other hand, was also getting ready to leave for her Mom's place. She was spending Christmas at her place then New Year's with her Dad.

"Because you have your family you should be spending the holidays with! I'm sure you don't wanna miss that." Laura was aware of Taylor's uneasiness with her family's set up when it came to these kinds of holidays. But still, she wanted her to spend time with them because she knew what her parents were probably gonna feel if she didn't.

"Oh, trust me, I do." She sighed. "So, when do I get to see you again?"

Laura could hint the sadness in her girlfriend's tone and felt bad about it. "After New Year's probably? We're going to celebrate all the nominations you've got these past few days, okay?" Awards season was just around the corner and Laura was ecstatic when she found out that Taylor was nominated for a SAG and a Golden Globe. She couldn't be prouder. "I'm really sorry. I'll make it up to you. I promise."

December 25, 2014 Thursday

Indeed, Laura had the most incredible time during Christmas Eve. They had amazing food and she even did karaoke with her family. She hated singing but she had the best time.

She kept trying to call Taylor but she wouldn't pick up. She'd only answered one of her texts, and that was just a simple 'Merry Christmas!' She knew then that something had probably gone wrong with Taylor's Christmas and she was worried.

"What's wrong, Laura? You're making your niece dizzy with all that pacing back and forth that you're doing."

"I'm sorry. Could you take her for a minute, Mom? I'm gonna try calling Taylor again, see if she's okay."

"Why don't you just go see her?" asked her mom as she took her granddaughter.

"What? But it's Christmas."

"Exactly. And you told me how hers is at her family's. We never know if something went wrong. And we'll never know unless you see her. Maybe she needs to be with you today."

"Have you just kicked me out of your house?"

"Yeah, I think I just did."

-o-o-o-

Laura decided to drop by her New York home first. Taylor was still not answering her calls or texts so she figured she'd visit her house in New York before leaving for her Mom's. When she went inside her bedroom, she was surprised because someone was lying on her bed.

"Taylor? What are you doing here?"

Taylor immediately stood as she heard Laura's voice. "Laura? What are you doing here?"

Laura chuckled as she pulled Taylor into an embrace. "I think I live here. You? I thought you were at your Mom's?"

That's when Taylor's smile was replaced by an annoyed, somewhat sad look. "I didn't go. Dad asked if I could just spend the Christmas with him because he had other plans for New Year. But Mom said she had other plans, too, so I can't spend that time with her. See how they're trying to push me to each other? Fuck it, it's not like I was so excited to spend the holidays with them anyway."

"Aww, I'm sorry, baby. So you spent your Christmas Eve where?"

"Here, at your place. I slept a lot. It was great."

"I'm so sorry. Come here," she hugged her so tightly because she felt bad that she didn't just let her come with her to Jersey. "Why didn't you just call me? I could've just picked you up."

"I didn't wanna bother you with any of my family bullshit because I know how much you love this day. I didn't wanna ruin it for you."

"No. It would've been a whole lot better if you were there. Promise me that if something like this happened again, you would call me?"

"Okay," Taylor smiled. She felt a hundred times better now that Laura's here with her. "I'm glad you're here now."

"Good! Anyway..." Laura got her bag and pulled out a small present then gave it to Taylor. "Merry Christmas!"

"Oh no, I haven't gotten you anything yet. I thought we weren't gonna see each other in a while," Taylor started feeling bad again.

"It's okay, babe. Come on, open it," Laura said excitedly.

Taylor opened it. It was a beautiful gold necklace with a little heart with a 'T' carved in it. "Aww, babe it's beautiful. Thank you so much. Merry Christmas!" And she hugged her one more time.

January 1, 2015 Thursday

New Year's for Taylor was a million times better than her Christmas. She spent the holiday with the Prepons and saying it was a blast was an understatement. She's never had that much fun during New Year's all her life. She's finally met everyone in Laura's family and had even joined in when they did their family theme song, Paradise By The Dashboard Light. It was her best New Year ever.

Laura was so happy that Taylor had spent celebrating the New Year with them. She could see how much this had made her girlfriend happy and vowed that this wouldn't be the only time they were gonna do this. It was only the beginning.

It had been the most wonderful first day of the year for both of them and the couple hoped that this was a sign that this whole year was gonna be good to them.

February 14, 2015 Saturday

Taylor loved Valentine's Day so much. She loved the feel of this day, as if each and every person she could meet exuded the aura of happiness and love. Everyone was particularly nicer and a lot more pleasant. So she was devastated when Laura told her how lame this day was.

She thought that they were gonna spend this whole day together, in a nice restaurant, have lunch or dinner, whatever Laura preferred. She thought they were gonna stay at home afterwards, watch movies all day or make love all day. She preferred the latter, of course. But no, that wasn't happening. Because Laura couldn't be convinced that this day was worth celebrating. So she was stuck in her place, annoyed at Laura, for being such a kill joy on the day of love.

Laura used to hate all the fuzz people gave about Valentine's Day. She's never found anything extraordinary about the day except that people seemed to make such a big deal out of it. Even if she had a boyfriend at this time of the year for some of the past years, she's never really cared much about this day. Until now.

She's just recently found out how much Taylor loved this day. She had convinced her how much she had hated it, though. Her girlfriend thought that they weren't gonna do anything special today. She wouldn't even pick up her phone when she tried calling her. She found her adorable when she acted like a kid who couldn't play with her toy.

So, after she's prepared lunch, which she made extra special today, she drove her car on her way to Taylor's. When she reached her place, Taylor refused to talk to her at first. But when she told her to go get dressed because they were going somewhere, Taylor had smiled and changed excitedly.

At first, Taylor thought they were going to some restaurant to eat but was surprised that they were actually headed to Laura's place. They went inside Laura's bedroom and she was even more surprised with what she saw.

Laura had placed petals of roses everywhere. On the bed, there were also petals of roses which spelled out 'I,' a heart shape, and 'U.' At the center of the room was a small rounded table and placed on it where the food prepared by Laura herself, which looked totally good, no surprises for Taylor there, and two glasses of wine. The whole place looked romantic.

"This is the first time that I'm doing this so I hope this isn't less than enough... or too much," said Laura.

But Taylor didn't answer. Instead, she hugged Laura tightly then pulled her for a kiss until they were both in bed, out of breath. The lunch could wait. She wanted Laura now.

March 7, 2015 Saturday

Laura told Taylor that she wasn't planning anything big this year, that she just wanted to spend her birthday with her. So Taylor could really see how disappointed her girlfriend was when she told her that she wasn't going to be in town on that day.

That was, of course, just a lie. She had planned the whole thing with Laura's best friend, Jodi. Taylor made Jodi convince Laura that they just spend her day playing poker at Jodi's place and she didn't fail. They stayed there with some more of their other friends while Taylor prepared Laura's house for the surprise party that she had planned for her.

At about five in the afternoon, the whole place was set up and people had started coming in. Taylor had invited almost everyone in Laura's life. Her whole family was there, her former cast mates from That 70's Show, October Road and Are You There Chelsea were there, the whole Orange Is The New Black cast and crew were there, each and every one of her friends were there. It definitely wasn't a small party.

It was exactly 6:00pm when Laura arrived. She opened her door and everything seemed normal at first, but then the lights opened, and bam! Almost everyone she knew in her life was right in front of her.

"Surprise!"

Then she saw the biggest surprise of the day, her girlfriend, making her way towards her, holding a cake while everyone was singing 'Happy Birthday.'

"I thought you were out of town today?"

"I can't believe you bought that. Happy birthday, baby. Make a wish."

Laura closed her eyes and made her wish silently, "I wish that this woman in front of me right now, this woman that I love so much, will be with me for the rest of my life."

-o-o-o-

Laura's party was over and everyone had left except for Taylor. They were on her bed, eating some cake. "So, did you like your party?"

"Very much! I can't believe you've convinced all of them to come. Especially those who I haven't even talked to in years. You're awesome."

"I've had help. You don't think I could do all of this alone, do you?"

"Don't lie to me. Jodi told me that you did everything. Thank you so much, babe... for doing that for me. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Laura kissed her. "That was probably the best party I've ever had my whole life," she said.

"Oh, already? But the party's not yet over," said Taylor as she put down her and Laura's plates on the bedside table.

"It's not?" asked Laura, surprised.

"Na-uh," answered Taylor as she started removing her clothes.

As Laura watched Taylor strip, she couldn't help but think that she didn't only have the best birthday ever. She also had the best girlfriend in the world.

A/N:

So, not much dialogue here. And nothing much really happens. Sorry if this isn't a great chapter. Lol.

Thank you for those who have favorited and followed this story. Also to xunconsciousx and mielsita for the reviews! Keep'em coming. Lol. =)