February 5th
"Boys and girls, do you know what day is coming up on February 14th?" the teacher asked. Taylor, the ever eager student, shot up her hand and waved it around. She was so eager that she yelled out "Valentine's Day!"
"Very good Taylor, but please remember to use your inside voice and wait for me to call on you next time, okay?"
Taylor lowered her head solemnly while Joe tried his best to suppress his laughter from the other side of the room.
"This year, we will be doing an activity similar to "Secret Santa". I have all your names in a bag here, so please come up and draw one out. You will have to give a special Valentine's gift to that person. This helps you get to know your classmates even more and you guys can have fun picking out gifts. Please line up in an orderly fashion."
Taylor was of course first in line to draw out a name. Thankfully, she had chosen Selena, another good friend of hers. Joe, on the other hand, had been standing behind Taylor poking her back and pestering her. He drew a name out of the bag and unfortunately, he picked Taylor's name. Now he would have to give her a lovey dovey gift on Valentine's Day. He didn't even like Taylor. How embarrassing for him.
At lunchtime, Taylor and Abigail sat together and gossiped about who got whom as their Secret Valentine. The teacher should have known better than to trust a bunch of first graders with a secret.
"I heard that Selena got Tom!" Abigail whispered in a conspiring way.
Taylor gasped dramatically and whispered back, "I heard that Joe has to give one to Betty!"
The two girls giggled quietly to themselves and played with their fortune tellers until lunch ended.
Little did Taylor know, Joe was going to be her Secret Admirer for the day.
When he got home, his mother was ecstatic to find out that he had chosen Taylor's as his Secret Valentine. She dragged Joe with her to the mall and picked out chocolates, a teddy bear, some costume jewelry and a card while Joe just dawdled along, getting distracted by all the toys along the way. He let his mother do all the work, not that she seemed to mind though. When they got home, his mother made him write the card for Taylor so he could at least participate a little bit.
"Dear Taylor:
Happy Valentimes Valentine's Day! Here is a gift for you.
x Joe"
February 14th
At school, the class walked around putting gifts on each other's desk. Joe hoped to sneak Taylor's onto her desk before anyone could see but at the same moment, the teacher walked by and saw the big present Elizabeth had prepared.
"Wow, class, could I have your attention please? Look at this beautiful gift Joe has brought in! Joe, who is this to?" Joe's face reddened significantly and he mumbled something along the lines of "it's a secret".
When Taylor opened the gift, she saw the bundle of presents Joe had gifted her and when she read the card, she read that Joe had given it to her and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you so much!" Taylor said. Joe tried to shush her and she quieted down, but their interaction was still caught by someone in the corner of the room.
At lunchtime, the cafeteria was bustling with activity and it seemed like a crowd had gathered around Joe. When Taylor entered the cafeteria, she was pushed into the circle with Joe too.
"Joe likes Taylor, Joe likes Taylor!"
"Joe and Taylor sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!"
"First comes love, second comes marriage, third comes Taylor with a baby in a carriage!"
Taylor and Joe looked at each other for a short second, then turned away quickly to hide the blush on their faces. They sat there enduring the taunting and teasing of their class until a teacher came and the crowd dispersed.
"What the hell was that?" Taylor whisper-yelled at Abigail, who had arrived in the cafeteria before her.
Abigail shrugged her shoulders and said, "Some told the whole class Joe was the one who gave you your Valentine's gift."
Taylor angrily shook her head, repeatedly jabbing her yogurt cup with the plastic spoon. No words were exchanged for a few seconds before she finally replied, "Who was it?"
Abigail was hesitant to tell her, before finally saying,
"Inez."
Taylor scanned the cafeteria for a glimpse of wavy strawberry blonde hair and finally saw her talking to Joe. She stormed over, nearly knocking over multiple lunches and finally found herself standing behind Inez. Taylor could not help herself and yanked Inez's luscious hair, making her turn around, flicking her pigtails into Joe's face.
"Why would you do this Inez?" Taylor was fuming. Inez stared daggers into Taylor's eyes and Taylor would be lying if she said she weren't intimidated by her fiery hot personality.
"Taylor, can't you take a joke? You and Joe are so alike, both coming up to me so angrily and pettily. I'm sorry, okay?" She ran to the bathroom and Taylor swore there were tears in her eyes.
Joe glanced at Taylor shortly and said, "Why couldn't you have just calmly explained it to her? Look at what you have done now."
Taylor looked at him with a hurt expression and before she could respond, Joe caught the look and pulled her into a short hug. Taylor leaned into his embrace before realising that would add fire to the rumours and quickly pulled back. She gave Joe a small smile and ran back to her table where Abigail was waiting with a raised eyebrow.
After school, Joe and Taylor rode the bus home and at Joe's stop, Taylor saw her mother beckoning her to get off too. Taylor trailed behind Joe, looking around at the pretty houses in this area of the neighbourhood. Taylor ran over to her mom standing on Joe's front porch and gave her a hug. Seeing Elizabeth in the corner of her eye, she gave her a hug too, thanking her profusely for the gifts. Joe led Taylor upstairs to his bedroom, shyly showing off his toy car collection. Taylor smirked at him before running downstairs as her mom was getting ready to leave. Right before Taylor left the house, she stuck her tongue out at Joe again and mouthed at him the same word he did to her on their first day of school. Andrea caught her and gave her a stern look but Taylor was too busy waving goodbye to notice. When she buckled her seatbelt in her mother's car, Taylor couldn't help but wonder - Does Joe love her?
A/N
Hey besties here's a new part of this already hella bad story. Nevertheless, i hope you enjoy it. I will start writing the next part when BOTH my parts have reached 4 votes and 4 comments. love you all <3
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backlogged dreams & day old teas
Fanfictiontaylor has been best friends with joe since they were school children, teasing each other on the playground. they reunite years later, each with their own hopes and ambitions. how will they navigate their life together as a couple? read to find out!
