Chapter 11

It was a miracle that the memories of that second date didn’t make me fail all of my finals. School should have been the first thing on my mind, but it came at a distant second place, after Morgan, and the time we got to share together at the movie theater. Any time I wasn’t texting her, I was thinking of her. Kevin of all people reminded me that I should study for the finals, though Mother also was glad to give her two cents as well.

That said, I tried to be humble but I wasn’t delusional – I was fine. Finals were a breeze. At his point it came down to “which scholarship am I going to earn” rather than “am I going to pass?” I wasn’t worried. I wasn’t Taylor.

Taylor...

We hadn’t really talked since that night. She was really mature and self-aware in the moment, but knowing Taylor, there was a full possibility that after she dropped me off at home, she decided she was angry at me for “The things I made her say” or whatever and decided to work from that point outwards, deciding what I did wrong after already deciding that I was wrong for something. Wouldn’t have been the first time. Either way, it was clear something was up. After I finished my third final, I waited outside the classroom for her, just to debrief or something. When she exited – about a full hour after me, to boot – she just looked shocked that I was there, then stopped making eye contact with me and walked away.

I wasn’t sure if she was mad at me, or if she felt guilty, or if she was weirded out that I waited for her or something. Maybe all three. Maybe none. I didn’t know, and ... the ‘cool guy’ follow-up would be to say I didn’t care, but I did. Taylor may have had her bad streaks, but I cared about her in some way, and I certainly cared about how she did. Her well-being in Data Management class was my baby too, and I wanted to see it through to the end, but ... maybe I was right. Now that she didn’t need my tutoring, I was useless to her.

It definitely showed that I was bummed out and dragging my feet when I went back to my locker. Taylor may not have been the most important person in my life anymore, but ... that didn’t mean it had to be all or nothing. If I was never going to see her again, that would have been a bummer. If this was the last I’d see of her ... well, I would have missed her.

“Yo, Quinn.”

I turned around to see Joel walking up to me, with a purpose. Instinctively, I cringed. I couldn’t help it. Was this Taylor’s last action? She told him some lie about me, or worse, the truth? This was something I wouldn’t miss at all – the drama, the bullshit, the never-knowing.

I recovered when I didn’t feel immediate pain. I opened my eyes and saw Joel smirking slightly in a cocky way, clearly amused by my little cringe. “Y-yes?”

“I got a thing I wanna talk about with you. Walk with me,” he asserted.

“W-what is it?”

“Walk with me, dude,” he replied emphatically.

I gulped. This was not going to be good. I closed my locker, locking it, leaving one of my books in there but not daring to refuse Joel, or do anything that looked like refusing him. “Where are we going?”

“Who cares?” he replied with this faux easygoing voice, the kind jocks used in public to people they pushed around. “We’re just gonna go somewhere where no one else can disturb us, alright?”

I looked around. The hallways were practically empty. Taylor finished her final considerably later than most students, and almost everyone just went home afterwards. It’s not like I couldn’t have gathered attention by shouting “fire” or something, but I knew that if Joel was trying to look for a place to “talk to” me one-on-one, he was going to find one.

Maybe it was my active imagination, but I was shaking. Joel was assertive, strong, and most importantly, completely charming to the people of the school. If anything happened, he of all people could easily get away with it.

Eventually he led me into this hallway with no lockers in it and shrugged. “This’ll do,” he remarked out loud. “All the classrooms could have teachers marking finals. You know. Witnesses.”

That was confirmation. I was fucked.

Joel didn’t break eye contact, taking his backpack off and reaching into it. “Alright, so you already know where I’m going with this I bet...” he began.

He could have just hit me in that one hallway while I was at my locker and spared me the torment. I bit down hard on my tongue, waiting for the second part of his sentence.

“ ... but we’re still in the hallways, so we’ll keep this quiet. You got any more notes? How much for chem?”

I paused for a few seconds. My teeth released my tongue. “Huh?”

“Like, y’know...” he made a motion with his hand, rubbing his fingertips together, the symbol for money. “Chem’s my weakest subject. You got any chem notes? I’ll pay.”

“That’s what this is about?!” I couldn’t help asking.

He looked at me like I was dumb. “Um, yeah. Why, what else would I bother ya with?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, finals must be getting to me,” I replied, my voice still shaky. “I had chemistry first semester, but my notes are at home.”

He shrugged and gave another cocky smile. “Hey, that works. How about this – I drive ya home, and I can wait in the parking lot and you go get ‘em? I’ve been a, uh, a bad student – I got jack squat to work with.”

I chuckled nervously. “Haha, I see ... Well, if you’re offering me a ride home, and I don’t need them anymore, I don’t mind doing it for free.”

“No shit?” Joel asked, his grin widening. “Quinn, you’re a pal! I’m glad I met ya!”

He accompanied his comment with a friendly slap on the back. It hurt a lot.

Hey, im hanging out at the gym after todays final. Want to come with me?

I stared at my phone, puzzled. What good would I do to Morgan at a gym? It didn’t seem like she’d be available to talk and it wasn’t private or anything, but it was an excuse to see her, so I shrugged and texted her back, agreeing and setting a time and place in the school to meet her.

The final itself was pretty easy, like the rest of them. Physics was a bunch of memorization; the better you could remember formulae, the better you did. The rest was just seeing the calculations through. The fact I breezed through my classes when they were structured like that told me both why I was good at things like math and science, and why I was always so confused around Morgan and Taylor.

After waiting around for Morgan to be done her final, we met in the intended hallway, shared a polite chaste kiss, and started to make our way outside.

“So, the gym, huh?” I asked.

Morgan looked at me as she walked, expecting me to go on. When I didn’t, she piped up. “What?”

“Oh, I’m just, I’m just wondering what we’re going to do there.”

She giggled at my question. “Well, I was planning on working out,” she said with a slightly weirded-out expression. “As crazy as that sounds.”

“ ... I think I don’t understand the concept of hanging out,” I admitted. “Doesn’t it make more sense to work out, and then hang out with friends or, y’know, me, afterwards? Since at that point you’re not burdened with working out.”

Morgan smiled with understanding. “It’s just nice to have someone else there,” she explained. “Just going to the gym is like just doing work. Sometimes doing work with other people around makes it enjoyable.”

“But aren’t you distracted?” I asked. “You’re doing stuff with the machinery and ... yeah.”

Morgan gave me a contained smirk. “You could always watch me be distracted,” she offered.

“The whole time? I’d feel like a creep,” I honestly replied.

Morgan shook her head but kept her smile on her face. “Okay then, let’s settle. Half the time you look at me. The other half ... did you bring a book to your final or something?”

I shook my head. “I’m not really reading anything right now anyways.”

“What do you do for fun then?”

“Um, in public? I don’t go out in public a lot, but ... I guess I play my 3DS sometimes on the bus.”

“Your what?”

“It’s like a handheld video game console.”

She shrugged and stretched her arms. “Okay, then we can swing by your place and pick it up on the way. You play for half the time, then the other half you look at me.”

I chuckled and grinned at her. “Am I supposed to understand you, or are you being deliberately ... strange?”

“Was that supposed to be a compliment?” she immediately shot back.

My smile faded. “Did it come across hurtfully?”

“No, don’t worry. I’m being ... this is my way of being flirtatious.” She let a beat of silence pass between us, then her smile resumed, albeit playfully. “Since we both know you won’t be.”

“How would I even be flirtatious?” I asked.

“How...?” Morgan gave me a weird look.

“Yeah. How. Pretend I’m a socially awkward dork and you’re my first ever girlfriend, and that I have no experience flirting.” We’d stopped walking by now, even though we were close to the carpark exit. “What would you say I should do?”

“Well, there are many ways to flirt, Quinn,” she replied.

“Yeah, but I want to flirt the way that makes you feel the best.”

She smiled. “Well, there you go, you just did it,” she replied softly.

I shook my head. “Aren’t you popular? You could date literally any guy and all of them know how to just talk to you, and you go for me and act like I did something huge when I give you a weird awkward ... thing like that.”

“Have you ever thought that I wanted to date you because of who you are, not despite who you are?!” Morgan asked, with a surprising amount of heat to her voice.

I remained quiet for a while, processing her answer. I felt like the biggest baby in the world, because the more I thought about it, the more I felt my eyes start to water. I wasn’t even sad or anything, it was like ... shock tears or something. I rapidly turned away from Morgan and faced the wall.

I could hear her come up behind me. “Hug me. Do something. I don’t need to see your eyes,” she ordered.

“Give me a sec,” I immediately replied, breathing in and out a few times. I turned around and obliged her, giving her a hug which she accepted. “You’re really nice to me.”

“You’re really honest with me, and I like the nice things you say,” she replied with an earnest tone.

I pulled back from the hug and leaned in to kiss her. We closed our eyes and let a single slow kiss pass between us. Even so, time stopped. It felt like my soul was being dragged out of my body, swirling around with hers in a whirlpool, then slowly making its way back into me. We both smiled slightly as the kiss ended.

“I like that you did that,” she told me quietly. “Please stop telling me to stop liking you though.”

“I don’t mean it like that,” I admitted.

“I don’t care. It’s not fair to either of us when you say it. No girl likes hearing it, and it only makes you more unsure of yourself to hear yourself say it. If you want to see things objectively, who benefits from you saying it?”

“Well, that’s not really objectivity, it’s more l-...”

I stopped myself as I saw Morgan’s eyelids lowering. I recomposed myself and cleared my throat. “No one,” I admitted. “It’s a defence mechanism.”

“It’s a bad habit,” Morgan corrected me. “And not to suck my own dick, but I’m patient. Is your next girlfriend going to stick around when you do this pity party every few times you hang out?”

‘Next’ girlfriend? That was a Catch-22 if ever I saw one. Answering her would be like admitting there was going to be a next, but questioning the phrasing of ‘next’ would have been too bold. I had to not reply at all.

“What do you mean, next?” I asked, unable to stop myself. Thankfully, Morgan only winked in response. Not knowing what else to say, I started to walk for the doors and Morgan followed, no doubt a small smile on her face.

I realized once we got outside that I didn’t quite know which car to look for, though Morgan was happy to show me the way. After catching up to me, she gestured off towards the end of the carpark, where an idling car sat with a certain someone inside.

“Taylor? We’re going with Taylor?” I couldn’t help but blurt out.

“You know I don’t drive. You really couldn’t figure it out? Gifted kid,” she teased.

I stayed rooted to the ground for a few seconds. Something inside of me, weirdly, did not want to get into the car with Taylor, even though I’d done so more than a dozen times at this point, several with Morgan.

That said, what was I going to do, just stand there forever? I blinked a couple of times, regaining my composure, and walked forward with purpose, catching up to Morgan and greeting Taylor with a simple wave.

It was hard to tell if Taylor was completely nonchalant with me, or was trying to communicate with me less than usual because she was trying to prove a point or something. To be fair, she and Morgan were clearly close friends, and I guess I was some guy until a short time ago, so of course they were closer, although I shared a bond with her that Morgan clearly didn’t. I shuddered to think about that.

“Can we stop by Quinn’s on the way there?” Morgan asked when Taylor began driving. “He’s got to pick up his 3DS.”

“Um, why? Does he need it?” Taylor asked.

“He’d feel better with it, and his place is on the way, isn’t it?” Morgan continued.

“I ... guess...” Taylor replied, dragging out each word, clearly inviting further comment on why her words were so pained. When no one did, she just huffed. “I just don’t get why he’d need it.”

“He doesn’t,” Morgan replied, cool as a cucumber. “I’m just asking you to stop by his place so he can get it. We’d appreciate it if you did. If you can’t, let us know.” She was, evidently, an expert at talking to Taylor. Taylor merely shook her head slightly and kept on driving, and a minute or so later, she was at my place.

I didn’t wait for either of them to so much as turn around and look at me. Within seconds I was flying out of the car, running inside, hoping that if I was quick enough, Taylor would like me more or something.

It was hard to tell if I had pissed her off or something, but, that was Taylor for you. It really helped having Morgan there – it was like having a giant neon side that said “if you were in the wrong, I’d be mad at you too, so relax.”

As soon as I was in the apartment, Mother spoke up. “Ah, who is ... Quinn!” she exclaimed, turning around from sweeping the floor. “How was last final?”

“I think I did well, Mother!” I tossed behind me, running to my room and searching below the bed, quickly finding my 3DS.

“Today was physics?” she continued.

“Yeah!” I nodded, trying to communicate as wordlessly as I could that I was frazzled and needed to leave.

Luckily, she noticed quickly. “Where are you going? School is done. Do you have work today?”

“No, I’m off today. I was actually hoping to – I’m going to hang out with Morgan.”

“Morgan? Your girlfriend Morgan?”

“Yes Mother, my girlfriend.”

“And not Taylor, your girlfriend Taylor?”

I groaned. “I’m not dating two people, Mother.”

Mother smiled at me. “You fooled me, Quinn. It seem like you fool yourself too.”

I don’t know why, but that comment made me stop thinking about leaving and just stop.

Mother nevertheless continued. “Your girlfriend can wait. You need to tell me about your final! No arguing.”

I glanced over at the sink and remembered how, like me, Mother hated doing the dishes. “If I can leave right now, I’ll do all of the dishes when I come home, Mother. All of them.”

That made Mother stop in her tracks, then slowly break out into a smile. “This was too easy, Quinn. Your girlfriend is going to walk all over you when she gets to know you!” She paused. “Gàn ba! You’re standing there, staring at me, I didn’t realize I’d raised such a soft boy.” She gave me a knowing smile, then made the ‘shoo’ motion with your hands.

I knew I’d come to regret it later, but I smiled back at Mother and left, thanking my lucky stars. The only person who had grown more accustomed to my lack of a social life than me was Mother, and it was clear she was still in shock from me evolving from Loser to Not Quite a Loser.

When I got back to the car, Taylor gave me a look. “What took you so long?”

“My mother. Thank whatever deity you worship that you haven’t met her.”

“Thank wha...?” Taylor asked.

“He thinks his mom is scary,” Morgan clarified, then turned back and smirked for me.

I cringed. That couldn’t have boded well for my sexual congress with her. I couldn’t help but look away, which I’m pretty sure caused her to chuckle. Taylor ignored the both of us and piped up. “So I can go to the gym now, right? No more stops?”

“Go, bitch,” Morgan laughed, still enjoying the moment. “Is Joel going to be there?”

“Ugh, no,” Taylor grumbled. “The dick cancelled on me last minute. Why do you think I’m so pissed off?”

As if she could read my mind, Morgan looked at me again and raised her eyebrows up and down. She was clearly milking my situation as best as she could.

I was silent for the rest of the trip, and only thought to say something when we were in the lobby of the gym.

“Don’t I need a membership or something to go in?” I asked Morgan.

“Is this your first time going somewhere with Taylor?” Morgan asked me playfully. “Only went back to her place, never thought to ask her out, huh?”

“I thought to ask you out, though,” I countered with a smile.

She smiled back. “Watch this.”

I turned to see Taylor practically saunter her way up to the counter. “Heyyyy Grant,” she practically purred.

A fit white young adult looked up from whatever he was reading. “Oh, hey Tay. Good to see you again. You and Morgan again?”

“Actuallyyyyyyy, we were wondering if we could let a friend of ours in with us this just, just once. Is that cool?”

Grant looked over at me, then back to Taylor. “That guy? You sure he’s ever been inside of a gym before?”

I hadn’t, so I guess I had no right to be insulted at that, even though Morgan thought to murmur “sorry” towards me.

“Gym rules, I can’t let anyone in without a membership. He can buy one now though.”

“Oh, please?” Taylor whined. “I don’t wanna pay for a whole month for him, couldn’t you make an exception just this one time?” She put on her best pouty voice.

“Can’t he just wait out here or something? What is he, your boyfriend? You got a boyfriend now?”

Taylor gave a sultry laugh. “No, silly, of course he’s not my boyfriend, Grant! You know I wouldn’t do that to you,” she purred as if they were sharing an in-joke. “He’s just a friend. I’m still single for you.”

I immediately looked at Morgan with eyebrows raised. She met my gaze, but didn’t say anything.

I looked back at Grant and saw that behind the facade, Taylor was getting frustrated things weren’t playing out in her favor. “I won’t use any of the equipment,” I offered. “I’m just here to be company for Morgan and, uh, Taylor here.”

Grant looked back towards Taylor and sighed heavily. “You’re gonna get me fired one of these days.”

“For this or for the ... y’know...?” Taylor teased him. “We haven’t been caught yet, have we?”

Grant rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Don’t cause me trouble. Go on in.”

“You’re the best!” Taylor practically shouted enthusiastically, then walked past him to the changerooms.

Morgan and I followed, with Morgan waiting until after we were out of earshot to tell me, “Don’t get the wrong idea, she and Grant haven’t done anything. She just likes doing that with guys who like her.”

“She still implied she was single for him when she’s not,” I countered.

“Believe me, that’s more about Grant being an asshole than her,” Morgan replied with a distrusting tone.

I didn’t really have anything to say to that, so I left it there. Morgan and Taylor went into the girls’ changeroom while I awkwardly walked through the guys’, then awkwardly waited in the gym on the other side for the girls to come out.

The gym was loud and echoey, with a really high ceiling and fans keeping the place a little cooler than I’d like. There were mirrors everywhere and the whole place smelled like plastic. I definitely felt out of place and the girls could clearly tell when they made it into the gym, judging by their laughs when they looked at me.

I decided to own it. “I’m surprised I had to tell him I wasn’t going to use the equipment, huh?”

Morgan chuckled, as did Taylor. “Oh, Quinn,” Taylor giggled. “Come with us! We’re doing the bikes first.”

Morgan turned to her friend with a cocked eyebrow. “Nope, I’m doing the machines first. Finish with light cardio, reps first.”

“Yeah, because the best time to do cardio is after you stretched yourself sore like a rubber band.” Taylor rolled her eyes.

“You’re just scared to use the machines,” Morgan practically sang.

Taylor eyed her friend curiously, her eyes flickering back and forth to me. “Are ... are you trying to look good in front of your new boyfriend?” She turned to me. “Quinn, she normally starts off with cardio like me. She’s just trying to look good for you.”

“She doesn’t need to, she already looks good to me...” I said with a shrug.

Interestingly, as if they never argued at all, both girls ‘Ooh’ed at my comment. “He’s quick, he’s quick...” Taylor congratulated me, nodding, with Morgan saying something similar at the same time.

“Well, just so we don’t split up, we can do cardio first if you really want to,” Morgan conceded.

“And I do,” Taylor finished proudly. “See that, Quinn? She puts on a good show for you, but she listens to me.” She spun around towards the bikes and flipped her hair dramatically as she began to walk towards them.

“You are such a bitch,” Morgan laughed as she chased after her friend, slapping her on the ass, earning a yelp from Taylor. I turned pink and looked around the gym – either no one noticed or this was just common gym behavior from them, because nobody seemed to care.

I followed them and found some kind of nearby bench behind the bikes, watching the girls mount two bikes next to each other. They started pedalling, and as much as I did not want to look like a creep, I had to admit, I had a front-row seat to one of the nicest ass shows in the whole damn country.

Morgan’s ass was smaller albeit a little more visibly toned (my guess was her talking about using the stretch machines wasn’t just a lie for me), but it was an incredibly close contest, plus, I certainly wasn’t minding Taylor’s ass being bigger. Seeing both asses moving delicately back and forth as their legs pumped and pumped on the machines was getting my breathing just as quick as the two on the bikes. Suddenly I had completely forgotten that my 3DS was even in my pocket.

I thought about how much I missed feeling up Taylor’s ass when we had our little study sessions, as well as realizing I was going to get to have Morgan’s in my hands soon if I played my cards right. I was like a deer in headlights for most of this, and I chastised myself for even wanting it in the past, but it was clear that Morgan wanted me to want it, right? She’d be happy to know I was getting hard, sitting here, thinking about the next time I could make out with her and squeeze her ass cheeks in my hand.

Thanks to my daydreaming, I didn’t exactly have to ask. Not one minute into their Tour de Ass, Morgan glanced back at me and immediately broke into laughter. “I knew it,” she laughed to herself. “Hey Tay, we’ve got a peeper.”

I blushed and looked away as Taylor joined in on the laughter. “You’re so easy, Quinn,” she laughed alongside her friend. “Can’t resist looking, huh?”

I shifted around. “I’m just looking at you while you two exercise, to keep you company. It just so happens that you two have your backs to me. It’s just where the bench happened to be.” I turned more pink as I talked.

Taylor’s smile got bigger as I tried to explain myself, and her eyes flickered down. “He’s hard.”

“Oh, he’s definitely hard,” Morgan readily agreed, her tone jokingly implying it was obvious. She turned to me. “If it’s so embarrassing, why don’t you get on a bike instead? Or even just stand up and walk around a bit...”

I practically whimpered. “I promised the receptionist I wouldn’t use any of the equipment...”

Both girls broke out into giggles again. “God, I can’t believe you, Quinn...” Taylor jokingly chastised me, beginning to pedal yet lifting her ass above the seat so I could clearly see her butt moving from side to side, each cheek moving back and forth, showing off how big yet how fit her ass really was.

Morgan grinned at the situation. “What do you think, Quinn? Don’t act like you weren’t staring at it before.”

I had no clue what to do in this situation, so I just buried my face in my hands as the girls kept laughing.

Morgan couldn’t resist continuing. “We’re going to give him a heart attack, Tay.”

“Maybe we should get him a membership after all. That way he can’t stare at our butts and maybe he can get one like mine.”

“Ooh, I can get behind that. Quinn with a nice ass.”

“Yeah, I bet you can ‘get behind it,’” Taylor joked, and the two laughed and laughed. “What do you say, Quinn? Wanna come here with us more often? Get a nice ass for Morgan?”

“Get a nice ass?” I repeated cautiously, pulling my face out of my hands.

Morgan winked at me. “I like my boys with nice bums. Sue me. I haven’t even seen your bum yet.”

Both girls stared at me, smiling, waiting for me to answer. I coughed nervously but figured I needed to not take it so seriously. “Um ... you can look but not touch?” I offered as a joke, and the two took it, laughing gently.

It was crazy to think about how mere days ago these two were furious at each other with me being the central plot to their little drama and now here they were, laughing and shoving their butts in my face. Although I certainly wasn’t complaining.

Was this a date? I had no clue. Taylor was here, so that made it weird, but Taylor had this natural charm to her where sex was more easily brought up around her than when Morgan and I were alone. And, in hindsight, it suddenly made more sense operating under that train of thought that Taylor and I also ended up doing what we did at our study sessions.

Either way, even with me nervously pushing back, it ended up with us driving to Morgan’s house. It’s not like we had school tomorrow – finals were over, and Morgan and Taylor wanted to celebrate. As for me, what could I do? My driver was dead-set on bringing both of us to Morgan’s, and was clearly having none of it when I bashfully told her I should get going soon.

I internally snickered when Taylor dragged me inside and I saw Morgan’s parents for the first time. They were exactly what one pictures when they’re told to picture the most stereotypical white man-woman couple. Even their names were straight out of some kind of “this is the Nuclear Family” 50s period piece – Art and Celeste. Art and Celeste Jones. Perfect.

“Oh now, who’s this?” Celeste piped up with that kind of middle-age energy a parent has when their kid brings home a friend, especially a friend of the opposite sex. “Morgan, do you have a new friend?”

Morgan seemed more nervous than I’d seen her in a long time. The last time I’d seen her this flustered was before she told me she liked me. “Um, so, mom and dad, this is, uh, Quinn. He’s ... my boyfriend.”

Both Art and Celeste paused, though Art quickly recovered and gave a warm yet confused laugh. “Boyfriend, huh? Did you ever think about telling us?”

“We haven’t been together long,” Morgan defended herself, still very flustered.

“Long enough that you wanted him to meet your parents,” Taylor countered.

I heard a “Ha!” to my left and glanced over to an open-concept living room with Morgan’s brother hanging out on the couch, doing something on a laptop, clearly listening in. Judging by the grin on his face, he was clearly loving something about this. Taylor was grinning back at him, clearly already acquainted with him.

Morgan continued nonetheless. “Now that finals are done, I was wondering if Quinn could just hang out for the night. We won’t be too loud.”

Celeste looked at Art with a classic ‘concerned parent’ look, then looked back at us. “Morgan, sweetheart, I’m not sure if your dad and I are too comfortable with a boy staying over in your room. If you could-”

“Oh, I’ll be here too, Mrs. Jones!” Taylor piped up. I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or annoyed. It was clear she was sticking up for us, but on the other hand ... I kind of wanted some alone time with Morgan, and it was almost more annoying to know that Taylor could probably guess that. Still, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten any alone time with Morgan in this house regardless.

“Well...” Celeste turned to Art and they murmured to each other a bit, then they turned back. “ ... Okay. You three have fun. Congratulations on finishing your finals.”

Morgan smiled politely at them. “Thanks, mom.” Without another word, she thundered up the stairs, with Taylor following close behind. Meekly, I followed, astonished how little her parents cared about talking to her. No real discussions about the finals, no discussion about how they clearly weren’t comfortable with me here without some kind of caveat ... Morgan even dropped a “boyfriend” bomb on them and they didn’t even talk about it. Maybe Crystal was right, maybe a lot of this was culture shock.