When Angela arrived in Taylor's room that evening he was sitting up on his bed, reading a magazine. "Hey Angel," he said, not looking up. She walked over and sat down next to him, putting her chin on his shoulder and wrapping both of her arms around one of his.
"Whatcha reading?" she asked.
"An article about this chick in Jersey," he said. "She just inherited a hundred and ten million dollars for her eighteenth birthday. That's insane." Angela bit her lip and looked at the magazine. It was a small article, but there was a little picture of herself next to it. She smiled. "Her name is Angela Kennedy. Hey, she's got your name."
"Really? How ironic."
"Do you know her?"
"Now why would you think I know her?" Angela asked. She couldn't hide the smile on her face, but fortunately Taylor couldn't see her. He shrugged.
"I don't know."
"She's pretty, isn't she?" Angela asked, trying to keep a straight face. Taylor looked at the picture of Angela.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"You guess so?" she asked, slightly offended. "You don't find her attractive?"
"No, I do! She's hot!" Angela's smile grew. "I just�why do you care anyway?"
"Well how long has it been since you've had a girlfriend?" Angela asked. "You've been slinking around here by yourself for God knows how long�you should go out more often."
"And you want me to date her?" Taylor asked. Angela paused.
"Oh, I don't know," Angela said. "You should be looking for someone, shouldn't you? I mean, come on, you're a hot eighteen-year-old rocker. You should be dating."
"Hot? You think I'm hot, eh?"
"I'm just simply stating the obvious," she said. "I don't know; you might get along with this Angela Kennedy girl. You did say she's hot."
"Yeah�she's got amazing eyes." He paused. "What do you look like?"
"Me?" she asked. "Does it really matter?"
"Well, it might be nice to have a mental picture of who I'm looking at. I mean I spent all night with you�and anyway, I'm curious." She scrunched her nose, took the magazine and put it, closed, on the nightstand.
"It doesn't matter what I look like, Taylor. You can't see me anyway. And if I do tell you, it'll ruin the mental picture you've already formed of me." She sat on his legs, facing him. "How was your day today?"
"All right. I talked to this really hot girl on the phone at lunchtime."
"Really?" she asked. "Anyone I would know?" She brushed his hair out of his face and noticed a cut alone his hairline. She leaned in and looked at it, confused.
"No, she's too cool for you."
"Funny," she said. "What's this?"
"What's what?"
"Your cut," she said. "How did this happen?" He sighed. "Tell me."
"It's embarrassing," he said. She pressed on. "I was running up here this morning after breakfast, I tripped and hit my head." She smiled, however she didn't quite believe him.
"Are you sure? It wasn't Zac?"
"No," he said.
"Did you two get along today?" she asked. He nodded. "Close your eyes." She put her hands on the sides of his face and he closed his eyes. She did as well, searching his memory and saw him running up the stairs that morning, suddenly tripping and hitting his head. She opened her eyes, smiling. He was telling her the truth. She kissed his cut and it went away. "Okay."
"We were better today than we were yesterday," he said, opening his eyes. "It got back to him that I told my parents and he's been treating me better. And I didn't kill myself yesterday and that was what he was really worried about."
"No, you didn't kill yourself," she said. "Is everything else okay? You didn't scrape up your hands when you tripped, did you?" She took his hand and looked at it.
"No. I don't think I need anymore kisses, although I do thoroughly enjoy them." She grinned.
"You would."
"My lips are kind of chapped�"
"Taylor!"
"I'm kidding," he said. "I'm not attracted to you."
"I know," she said. "I'm not attracted to you either." He looked shocked but his hurt was hidden well, unlike her. She could be openly upset about it because he couldn't see her. "So, what do you want to do tonight? You can't just sit around here with your loser magazines."
"Loser magazines?" he asked. "Ugh! How dare you!" She sighed and put her forehead against his shoulder.
"I think you should go out with Zac," Angela said.
"That sounds all and good, Angel, but I just don't like Zac that way," Taylor said. She groaned. "Zac and I are still edgy around each other. Maybe tomorrow."
"I'll be holding you to that."
"You would; you have no life."
"Taylor, you are my life," she said. She noticed immediately that her statement made him uncomfortable. She stood. "Let's go downstairs."
"Why?"
"Dinner!" Diana called up the stairs.
"That's why," Angela said. Taylor looked confused. "What?"
"Can you predict the future?" he asked, standing up as she tugged on his hand to get him to do so.
"No, not really," she said. "I can't see into the future and tell you what's going to happen, but every now and then I know something's going to happen before it does. Like I knew your mom was going to call dinner. Sometimes I can tell the phone's going to ring before it does, or the doorbell's going to ring, or you're going to open the door and Zac's going to be standing there, waiting to ask who you've been talking to all this time." Taylor opened the door to reveal Zac with a raised fist to knock on the door.
"I've been on the phone," Taylor explained. "Now if you'll excuse me�" Taylor and Angela slipped past him.
"How'd you know what I was going to ask?" Taylor smiled.
"You're just that predictable, Zac," Taylor told him. So you can't tell me when I'm going to meet my future wife or anything like that? he continued in his head.
"Well there are things I can tell just by looking at you," she said. "It's a part of what I do. Your physical features and the message they send out can tell me certain things." So you do know when I'm going to meet my future wife? "Yes." When? She smiled. "I really shouldn't tell you, but you've probably already met her." Really? "It's kind of vague, but you either have already met her or you're going to meet her soon."
"Cool."
"What?" Zac asked, a step or two behind Taylor.
"It's cold in here," Taylor said.
"Yeah, you're right," Zac said. Angela was surprised at Zac's calm tone. Every time he'd spoken to Taylor since Angela arrived was in a harsh, criticizing manner. It was appreciated. They went into the dining room and Angela stood behind Taylor. It had become almost a routine.
"So how was work today?" Diana asked.
"Oh, the usual," Taylor responded, which surprised her. Taylor hadn't been speaking much lately. "I did a flawless job and Zac messed up often. You know, the usual." Zac shot him a look but Taylor smiled. Seeing the smile on Taylor's face, Diana was put at ease.
As the days went by, Angela and Taylor became closer. She would arrive in his room the same time he did, and he would tell her about his day before dinner, then the evenings varied with what Taylor felt like doing. He was getting noticeably better, laughing a lot more and cracking a lot more jokes. She still put him to sleep every night, and when he slept she would make sure he wasn't hiding anything from her. When he hid a memory from her, it was usually in the same place and it was usually something embarrassing, but she had to make sure he wasn't hiding anything extreme from her. He never did.
He was getting along better with his family, mostly Zac, and when Angela had been visiting him for three weeks, she was afraid that he was almost completely healthy. It was her mission; it was what she was sent there to do, but she knew when he could look at himself in the mirror and say "I'm okay," then she wouldn't be coming back anymore.
"Today was a stressful day," Taylor said, lying on his stomach on the bed with his shirt off, letting Angel give him a relaxing massage.
"I can tell. You're all tense," she said, running her hands up his spine and over his shoulder blades. "And bony."
"That's not my fault. I'm a skinny guy."
"Yes, you are," she said. "I thought it was because you don't eat, but you haven't stopped eating since I met you and you're just as skinny." He let out a deep breath, completely relaxed. She smiled. She was happy just making him feel better.
"Angel?
"Yeah, hun?"
"What's your last name?" She paused a moment before continuing to rub his back.
"I don't see why that matters, Taylor," she said. It was a common response from Angela. Every time Taylor asked anything about her personal life she found a way to dodge a response. She either changed the subject, talked him out of it, or simply snapped her fingers in front of his face, making him forget what he was talking about. She didn't like to use the finger snapping mind trick on him often, so she only used it as a last resort.
"Of course it matters," he said. "You're sitting on my ass, rubbing your hands all over me�I normally don't let someone do that unless I've gotten a last name." She smiled. "I don't know anything about you! You won't tell me your name or even what you look like."
"I just don't think it's all that important," Angela said. "It's not about me."
"You always say that. I want to know about you. You're�you're like my best friend and you won't let me know anything about you."
"Taylor, I'm hardly your best friend."
"Well who else has been spending every single night with me for the past three weeks?" he asked. He was pressing too hard and she didn't want to answer him.
"Taylor, look at me." He turned to look at her and she snapped her fingers in front of his face. He shook his head and blinked a few times.
"Whoa, what was I talking about?" he asked her, a bit confused.
"You were telling me about your stressful day."
"Oh," he said, putting his head back down on his pillow. "Well there was this track that we just had to finish today and it just wasn't working out. Zac kept fucking up the beat and Ike sounds like he's coming down with something because his voice was getting scratchy and he was clearing his throat a lot. All in all it didn't make for an easy day."
"Are you getting along with them?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Good." That was definitely good to hear. He'd been fighting with his family less and less over the past three weeks, and recently he'd even gone out with Zac and had an entire night (Angela supervising) without a fight. She slid her hand down his back and over his side and he jumped a bit. "What?"
"That tickles," he said. She smiled.
"Oh, man, you've got a big knot here," she said, moving her hand right above his jeans. "I can't get it�Taylor, could you take off your pants?"
"Listen, Angel," Taylor said. "I know you think I'm sexy, but I told you already I'm not interested! Geez�always trying to get in my pants." She could see the smile on his face.
"Do you want me to get the knot out or not?"
"Fine! Get off me." She got off of him and took off his pants, then laid back down on the bed. "But if you even think about going under the boxers, I'll know you're just coming on to me." She stifled a giggle and pinched his ass. "Angel!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, laughing. "I just had to." She sat back down on his ass, surprised at how different it felt when he didn't have his heavy jeans on. "Whoa, you do have a bony ass."
"Can we not talk about my ass, please?" he asked. She got up a bit then sat back down on his ass, amazed at what a difference it was. "Angel, stop that." You're turning me on. Angela's mouth dropped and she was sure she wasn't supposed to hear that.
"So�" she said, working on the knot in his lower back, "are you guys almost done recording?"
"No, not really," he said. "But I like recording. It's not as cool as playing live, but it's definitely the second coolest part about my job."
"You're still having fun, aren't you?"
"Yeah�I'm happy." She paused. "Angel?"
"That's wonderful, Taylor." He turned over and sat up, Angela still in his lap. She looked down at her hands.
"You don't sound too happy about that," he said.
"Of course I'm happy!" she said. "This is what I came here to do. I was supposed to make you happy." Taylor sighed. "But now that you're happy, I don't really have anything to do here."
"I'm not happy," he said. "I'm everything but! I'm sad and depressed and I'm thinking about hurting myself."
"Taylor, don't even say that," she told him. "You know you don't mean it. It's not going to make a difference. We can still talk!"
"But you won't be here," he said. "Now I really am upset." She kissed his forehead. "But honestly, Angel, when is the right time for you to go? How do you know I'm really happy and I'm not just saying that?"
"I don't," she said. "I guess I'll be here until the Maker tells me not to come back." He scrunched his nose.
"Who is this Maker guy anyway?"
"He's kind of my boss, if you want to think about it that way. But I'm still here now!" she said, giving him a hug. "I'm still here." He put his arms around her and held her tightly. "Are you tired?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want me to put you to sleep?" she asked.
"No. I want to sit here and hold you." She smiled.
"Here," she said, getting off his lap carefully. "Get under the covers and lie down." He pulled the covers out from under him and the both of them slid underneath. He lay down with her still in his arms. "Let's see if we can fall asleep naturally tonight."
"I don't know if I can do that," he said. "You've been putting me to sleep for so long now." She put her head on his chest, listening to his strong steady heartbeat. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you, Angel."
"You're going to have a very nice, very long life." He sighed and she could feel her head rise with his chest.
"Let me feel you," he said. She closed her eyes and let him feel her�his fingers in her hair, her head on his chest, her arm around his waist, her body against his, their legs intertwined together. His eyes closed and he just let himself feel her, every inch of her, as they fell asleep together. As they began to drift away, her body began to float again and by the time he was asleep she was gone completely.