"Ah, she's so devious! I'm breaking up with her. I can't take it anymore!" Taylor shouted over the phone that evening.
"She just wanted to get back at you. Give it a few days for her to cool off, and it'll blow over," Ryan said, sounding unconcerned.
Abigail had said, "I haven't even been to Kansas yet," so what she'd said at the dance just now had obviously been meant to needle Taylor.
Taylor was still scared, though, and kept asking and wailing things like, "You're not really going to marry her, are you?" and "What if she gets pregnant?" and "Tennessee doesn't allow abortions! Kansas is even stricter!"
"Do you think you can take a high schooler seriously when she talks about getting married?" Ryan countered.
"Why not? It's not like I don't know people who got married right after graduating high school!"
"But Abigail and I aren't like that."
"That's easy for you to say. You'd love for that to happen, wouldn't you?" Taylor nearly shrieked.
Under Taylor's practically life-or-death demands, Ryan agreed.
"Have people online been talking about our relationship?" Taylor finally asked.
Ryan told Taylor what he'd seen, including the rumors.
"Romance really does stir up a lot of discussion among young fans," Taylor said. She sounded much more relaxed after hearing him out.
"Speaking of which, are those rumors true? Looks like I'll have to keep some cash on hand for you from now on. If you do well, I'll give you some; otherwise, I'll save it for next time." Taylor snickered.
"You think I need that little bit of money?" Ryan laughed.
That aside, he'd been earning quite a lot lately.
As an early starter on the path to stardom and the daughter of a Wall Street worker, Taylor was someone Ryan could ask