handprints on my soul - jaylor oneshots

sparkling nights (part 1)

They lay in the grass of a meadow, flowers all around them. It was a perfect summer day, with the sun shining on them and the birds chirping in the sky.

Taylor reached out her hand, intertwining her fingers with Joe's and resting that on his stomach.

"Doesn't this remind you of last summer?" Taylor asked blissfully. "When I first saw you..."

"We were so young," Joe replied, gripping Taylor's hand tighter.

"We still are," Taylor laughed.

"Nineteen feels so young now, in comparison to twenty," Joe argued playfully.

"Mm," Taylor said. She wasn't going to disagree with him on that. "I kind of miss it."

"Me too," Joe agreed. He looked over at Taylor, and they made eye contact. Taylor smiled, then shut her eyes, allowing herself to slip back to the summer before.

1 year before

She stood on the balcony, looking out over the front of the property. It was really gorgeous in the early summer, with the grass all manicured and green and simply the feel of the day.

"Taylor! Are you ready?" Andrea calls, and Taylor can tell she's walking down the hallway, making sure everything is perfectly in it's place.

"Yes, mother!" Taylor calls back, half sarcastically. She looks out over the property once more before turning on her heel and walking back into her bedroom, shutting the glass door behind her.

It was the afternoon before her parent's annual summer ball. The kickoff to summer, a longstanding tradition they'd had with the families of the country club. As a small child, it had excited Taylor to run around in a pretty dress with her hair all done up and being allowed to play with friends. Over time, it had grown to be a little more of a requirement, and though Taylor didn't hate it, she couldn't see why her parents made such a fuss over it.

She smiled as she looked over herself in the mirror. She had a long red dress on, one that resembled somewhat of a medieval style as that was the theme her parents had chosen that year. Her hair was in beautiful blonde curls with an accentuary french braid.

"Taylor! Downstairs honey, the guests are arriving soon!" Andrea called.

Sighing, Taylor slipped a bracelet onto her wrist and then made her way downstairs, slightly less graceful in the heavy dress she wasn't used to wearing.

The house was decorated beautifully, something Taylor and her whole family had put a lot of work into, of course with the help of their staff. Still, the process was complicated and timely, but the look of the place afterwards was worth it.

Every year when their summer ball rolled around, Taylor had to question if her parents had really bought the place to have extra space for her brother and her, or simply because it had a perfect ballroom for the event.

As guests began to arrive, Taylor started out greeting them at the door, but by the time her best friend Abigail had arrived, she ditched the front door so the girls could go mingle about. It soon filled up wih rich socialites from the country club, and Taylor and Abigail mostly hung around the food table looking out across the party.

"You did a fantastic job this year, Tay," Abigail commented. "The lights look amazing, all strung across the wall and when you walk up the path."

"That was my idea," Taylor slightly bragged. "I had to beg and beg, because my parents said it was childish, but I think it turned out very well."

"It's going to be a hit, I'm sure," Abigail told Taylor, and then took a sip of her drink. "Mm, look, your aunt is coming," she said, making a quick gesture towards the woman. "I'll get out of your way. Good luck with her. We can meet on the patio after."