Love Me Always (I Hate You...I Think) by Anna Davis

days," she frowned.
"I'm fine," I muttered. A yawn escaped me.
"Traitor freakin body," I thought to myself.
"Taylor."
    I looked up to find Oliver at the doorway he
was motioning for her to give us a moment. Taylor
squeezed me in a hug then left.
    "She's right, you know," he told me softly
leaning against the counter. He had dark bags
under his eyes much like I knew I did. However,
mine wasn't from a drug binge. Mine was from
refusing to shut my eyes. I had tried last night but
the nightmares. The images of that boy haunted
me.
"I didn't want to say anything but you look
exhausted."
    Gentle he brushed a stray hair from my
face. Blushing I resisted the urge to lean into his
hand.
"I'm fine," I repeated not looking at him.
"You’re having nightmares aren't you?"
    I froze and looked up at him. I didn't even
tell Leon about the nightmares. Did I? Had I told
him?
    "It's obvious, Ever. I might have been
screwed up yesterday. I might still be kind of
fucked up right now but I know you, baby girl."
    My heart did a flip. He called me baby girl.
He held my gaze with a look of adoration that
made me want to just melt into his arms.
    "Is breakfast ready?" Logan whined from
the doorway completely shattering the moment.
Oliver grumbled and cursed under his breath about
never getting any privacy.
    "Yeah," I told Logan and stepped out of the
way as he grabbed a plate and began filling it up
with everything in sight. The others filtered in and
Leon knocked Logan upside the head for not
sharing.
Stepping back one more step I bumped into
Oliver. His arms coiled around me.
"You need sleep, Baby."
I shook my head. "Jet said we were putting
up the Christmas tree."
    "We can do that after breakfast," Alex
chimed in offering Kimmy a plate. She waved it
off.
    After everyone had ate, the plastic
Christmas tree was dug out of storage. It was
amusing watching the boys try to figure out how to
put it together. The girls and I just sat there making
fun and poking jokes at them.
    Alex was sitting with ornaments in his lap
handing them up to the others. Oliver was glaring
at a bundle of lights that were so twisted up I doubt
he was getting them untangled anytime soon. Leon
was throwing objects Tyler handed him at Logan
who eating the popcorn string Jet kept handing him
and Jake was bent over fixing the bottom of the
tree with his butt sticking straight up in the air.
    "Nice view," Taylor chuckled shooting a
nerf dart at his butt. It hit him and he jumped up
almost taking the tree over. The tree tipped and
landed on Tyler's head. Tyler more or less caught it
before Oliver righted it glaring at Jake.
"Don't look at me. She shot me!" Jake cried
pointing accusingly at Taylor.
    Taylor who had hid the nerf gun looked
wide-eyed and innocently at Oliver shaking her
head. I bit my lip and looked away trying not to
laugh.
    "She's always like this. It's nice that she
found someone to play with and they don't get
angry," Angie told me quietly, "She use to get in a
lot of trouble back home. Ask her about senior
prank. She almost didn't get to walk across the
stage."
    I raised my eyebrow at that and looked at
Taylor. She looked so sweet she didn't look
capable of getting into any kind of trouble.
    Jake gave Taylor a look, "It's on now, Tater
Tot," he smirked. Oliver wacked him over the head
with a large plastic candy cane.
"HEY!"
"Back to work."
    Jake flared out his nostrils and flipped
Oliver off. The look Oliver gave him caused Jake's
eyes to go wide and he turned back to the tree.
"That's what I thought," Oliver muttered
with a smirk and winked at me.
Chuckling I turned to Taylor, "So Tater
Tot?"
Taylor got a look quite similar to one a cat
makes when you rub there fur the wrong way.
"I'm watchin you, missy," she told me
pointing her finger in my face.
"Why did he suddenly start calling you
Tater Tot?"
Her cheeks went red and she refused to
look at me.
"I was telling Ever about senior prank,"
Angie laughed changing the subject.
Taylor