10 PM...
At Taylor and Eleanor's room...
Taylor is lying down on her bed while staring blankly at the ceilings. She had texted Eleanor asking where she is and when will she be going home, which she didn't reply. Again, Taylor became worried of her sister for not coming home at this late hour, but understood that she is the reason behind it. Even her parents are getting more worried about the feisty girl's weird behaviour these past few days.
"Haven't sleep, Honey?"
Taylor turns her head and sees her mom standing in front of the door. Her arms are crossed, while her eyes looked tired yet also anxious at the same time. Deep down, she knew her mom must be anxious about Eleanor, yet her gaze also tells her that the middle-age woman has something she wants to talk about. She is giving her the familiar look that she's too familiar with. It's the type of look her mom would always make everytime she wants to talk about something serious.
"Not yet," Taylor answers. "Is Eli home yet?"
"I called her again in which she finally answered. She's on the road with Fred, heading back," her mom says.
"Oh," Taylor says. Hearing her mom's words, she felt a bit relief that Eleanor is heading back with Fred by her side. Yet, she is also sad to know that Eleanor didn't even bother to answer her calls or messages. The last message she send her was literally 3 minutes ago, but she didn't even bother to reply. She must had been too disappointed by her.
Silence fills the moment, with Taylor's mom walking slowly to Taylor's bed. She finally sits on the corner of the bed, with her vision not looking at her daughter, but instead just stares at the front door of the room.
"So what's going on between you girls?" the middle-age woman suddenly asks, which gave Taylor a quick surprised in the heart. She starts to feel nervous knowing that she has to explain things to her mom at this point, since she probably already knew about the changes of her daughters' behaviour.
Taylor sighs. Slowly she gets up from her lying position and sits on the bed. With guilt in her eyes, she didn't dare to look at her mom's direction and just stare down to both her hands.
"I messed up, Mom," Taylor says, as if she's making a confession of her mistake. "Eli's gonna hate me forever."
"What happened, Honey?" slowly, her mom turns her head to see her daughter staring down at her hands with guilt written all over her eyes.
"We both liked the same guy, but I dated him behind her back," Taylor says. "She eventually found out and we got into an argument."
"I see. Why didn't you just tell her that you wanted to date that guy?" her mom asks with curiousity.
"I didn't want to hurt her feelings. Other than that, I wanted him all for myself," Taylor says as she remembers her selfish thoughts back then.
"I see. Was that guy, Joey Carlson?" her mom asks.
Slowly, Taylor turns her head up to see her mom staring at her. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard her mom asked if the guy she meant was the best friend of both her and Eleanor.
"Yeah. How did you know?" Taylor asks in a somehow innocent tone.
Her mom smiles, "What kind of man could make two sisters fight, if he doesn't have a special place in both of their hearts? Who else could that guy be, other than him?"
Hearing her mom's words, Taylor is left speechless. She was surprised to hear what her mom had to say, but also knew that what her mom said was sensible enough for her to understand.
"Yeah, you're right, Mom," Taylor says.
"When in love, sometimes we lose our sense as our ego starts to get the best of us. Despite being in love, never let that feeling get the best of your sense or ego," her mom says in the most calm manner. In a time like this, Taylor felt at most comfort with her mom's presence. In her eyes, her mom has always been the wisest person she has known all her life. She knew she could always come to her whenever she needs to hear some comforting life advice.
"You girls are sisters. You have to make up sooner or later," her mom adds.
Taylor sighs. Despite wanting to fix her relationship with Eleanor so badly, she believe that it almost seem impossible since Eleanor doesn't even want to have a word with her anymore. In this case, Taylor felt like she broke the glass she still wish to fix, but doesn't have the confidence if she is capable of putting back the pieces together.
"She hates me, Mom," Taylor says. "She doesn't even want to see my face for a bit."
"She's just upset after what happened. As her sister, you have to show her that you're sorry after whatever happened between you two," her mom says.
Hearing this, Taylor became silent as she starts to recall the times she tried to talk to Eleanor in an attempt to fix things between them, in which she ignored. Deep inside, she wanted to believe that there is still a small chance of hope despite the reality of their broken relationship is slowly killing her smallest hope.
Meanwhile...
At Tim's house...
After getting kicked out by his dad, Joey figured he had to no where else to go than Tim's place. He was glad that the two have a brother-like relationship and he didn't mind at all helping him out with his situation. Yet, he knew that he couldn't stay like this forever. He can't keep on running back to Tim for help everytime he has trouble with his dad, and now that he finally got kicked out, he had to think of a way to survive life on his own.
In a desperate manner, Joey slams his body down on the bed of the guest room. He thought he needed to find a job quick, but knowing that he doesn't even have enough money to pay rent, his insecurities starts to rise. Sure, he has some savings in his wallet, but it's not too much for him to pay for rent. By that, he felt desperate at the situation.
I gotta get out of this mess. I gotta start over. Joey thought.
To be continue...