Girls Never Go Out of Style - A Kaylor Fanfic

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Oh God, Taylor thought. What am I getting myself into?

Late morning Sunday sun shone through Taylor's window, where she lay in bed staring up at the ceiling and dissecting her date with Karlie the day before.

Was it a date? It had felt like a date. After they left the diner, they had gone for a long, meandering drive. When Karlie parked at the sidewalk in front of Taylor's house, there had been this moment when they sat facing each other, silent. They had leaned toward each other just slightly, barely an inch, when Taylor realized what was going to happen. She stammered something about having a great time and scooted out of the car, her heart beating hard in her chest.

She had answered her parents' questions about her day as vaguely as possible, ate dinner, spent some time trying out different chord progressions on her guitar. But she couldn't concentrate on trying to perfect her B chord, and eventually she gave up and went to bed.

And then... That dream...

Taylor's face got hot just thinking about it.

A glance at her alarm clock told Taylor that it was nearly noon, far too late to still be in bed. She kicked off the covers and walked barefoot to the bathroom connected to her bedroom. But the restlessnes still lingered after she had showered and dressed, and she knew that she wasn't going to be able to focus on the poems she needed to read and explicate for her advanced English class in this state. So she grabbed an apple from the kitchen, stashed it in her bag, retrieved her bike from the garage, and set out for a ride around the neighborhood.

She pedaled and pedaled, letting the exercise calm her nerves. It was another sunny day, warm enough for her capris and light blouse, but cool enough to hint at the fall days ahead. When she saw a park up ahead, she decided to stop for a rest.

Taylor was sittng under a tree in a quiet part of the park, chewing a bite of apple and reading the Patricia Highsmith paperback she had brought along, when she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Taylor! Hey!"

"Karlie!"

Karlie sat down next to Taylor on the bench, legs splayed boyishly. "I didn't expect to see you so soon," she said.

Taylor bookmarked her page. "I couldn't focus on my homework, so I went for a bike ride," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I live a few blocks that way," Karlie said, gesturing. "It gets kind of loud at home sometimes, so I end up here a lot."

Taylor remembered Karlie saying yesterday that she had a big family, three sisters.

"Do you mind if I smoke?" Karlie asked. Taylor shook her head, and Karlie pulled a pack of cigarettes from her breast pocket and shook one out. Taylor watched as she placed it between her lips and craned over her Zippo to light it. Taylor knew that she shouldn't like Karlie smoking, but there was something just so... well, sexy about it.

Karlie held the pack out to Taylor. "Want one?"

Taylor grinned, amused at the thought of how she would look smoking a cigarette. "No thanks." She held out her apple. "Want a bite?"

"No thanks."

"I can't stop thinking about yesterday," Karlie said.

Taylor's pulse pounded. "I can't, either."

Karlie pulled in a lungful of smoke, held it, released it slowly. "I really appreciate what you said to those guys at the diner."

Taylor shrugged. "They were being jerks. It's not a big deal."

"Yes, it really is." Karlie's green eyes were intense as she held Taylor's gaze. "I get that kind of stuff a lot. I'm almost used to it. What I'm not used to is someone actually sticking up for me like you did. Thank you."

"You-- You're welcome."

Karlie's knee bumped gently against Taylor's. Neither of them moved away. With her free hand, Karlie reached up and touched the soft curl of hair that had escaped Taylor's short ponytail, pushing it back behind her ear. Taylor reached up instinctively, running the tips of her fingers along the back of Karlie's hand. Karlie's skin was warm and soft.

Taylor barely knew what she was doing. One moment they were just sitting there, on a bench in the park, the big tree shading them from view. They were separate; they were in the before. And then they were both leaning forward, slowly at first and then faster, momentum taking over, until their lips touched, parted, touched again. Their first kiss tasted like apples and nicotine.

Taylor's eyes popped open and she pulled away. Her face was flushed, her eyes wide in the moment before she averted them.

"I--I--" she stammered. She dropped her apple core on the ground and shoved her book back into her bag. "I need to get back home."

"Taylor!"

"I have to go home. My mom will be looking for me."

"Taylor, wait!"

But Taylor was already pushing her bike up the hill. As soon as she was on level ground, she threw one long leg over the bicycle and pedaled away, leaving Karlie to feel stupid, and to wonder what would happen at school the next day.