Anywhere But Here

My parents had to make an emergency business trip to Las Vegas and left just a few hours ago. I had begged them to take me with them, but they absolutely refused. I just wanted to get away from Beachside for a couple of days. They were only going to be gone until Monday night, what is so bad about missing one day of school?

I felt an overwhelming need to escape. I stared at my phone, not knowing who to call. I couldn't call Haylie, she slapped me. I couldn't call Adam, he was respecting my wishes to be left alone. I didn't want to call Henry, I would spill every horrible secret that Haylie had to make him stop loving her. Justin and Sarah were completely out of the question, they both work Friday nights. I took a deep breath and clicked the call button. I got an answer on the first ring.

"Hey, Taylor," I said. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight."

"Of course, Court," he said. I could practically see him smiling though the phone. "I'll be over at your house in ten."

I don't know what possessed me to call Taylor. We're friendly with each other. I think it was because I was lonely and there was no one else around to comfort me. I'd have to admit, I was actually surprised to see him riding onto my driveway in his Harley. He parked his bike, took off his helmet and sat down next to me on the porch. I'm not going to lie, Taylor looked really hot in his white t-shirt, jeans, and leather jacket. I had little butterflies in my stomach.

"Hey, stranger," he said, smiling. He noticed that I was shivering a little. "You look cold." He took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. I smiled. I had forgotten how sweet Taylor could be.

"Thanks," I said, grateful for his jacket. "It's nice to see you."

"It's nice to see you too, Court," he said, sincerely. He was silent for a minute. "So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?" I shook my head no. I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to talk about it to Brittany and I definitely don't want to talk about it to Taylor.

"I really don't want to talk about it," I told him. We sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. I put my hands in the pockets of the jacket and found his keys. Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea. I jumped up and ran over to his bike.

"Court, what are you doing?" Taylor shouted. He ran over next to me and grabbed my wrist. I looked into his eyes.

"Taylor, I want to get away from here," I told him, practically begging. "Please, I just want to be anywhere but here." I think he saw the pain in my eyes or he understood where I was coming from. When we were still going out, he had escaped his parents by bringing me to the mountains where you could see all of the city lights- the place where he first told me he loved me.

"Fine, just for the weekend though," he said, sighing. "No way in hell are you driving my bike."

"Just let me get some things from the house, ok?" I asked him. He nodded. I went inside and got a small backpack and stuffed a couple of things that I thought I needed for the weekend. I grabbed my leather jacket and headed outside, locking the door behind me.

"Your parents are going to kill me," he mumbled. I hopped on the back of the bike and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Just drive, Taylor," I told him.