in my wildest dreams - a taylor swift fanfiction

epilogue - thirteen years gone

SKYLAR

I struggled with the zipper on the back of my blue dress but ultimately gave up and figured I could hide it with my hair. Reaching over the center console to pick up the matching stilettos that had fallen to the floor on my way from the meeting, I caught a glimpse of the red, lit-up digits displayed on the dashboard: 4:59.

"Fuck!" I groaned, finally reaching the shoes and picking them up. I hurried out of the car and had just locked it when I realized I'd left my purse in the passenger seat.

Two minutes later, I was running as best I could with the purse swinging back and forth from my shoulder, while I simultaneously tried to remove my white sneakers.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" I repeated under my breath, finally managing to get the first sneaker off, jumping on one leg. I put the stiletto on as I made eye contact with someone who clearly worked at the wedding venue and didn't look much older than twenty. A split second after we'd exchanged friendly smiles, the high heel slipped on the grass underneath me and I fell forward onto the ground.

"Ma'am? Ma'am, are you alright?" The guy came hurrying toward me and I glared up at him. I figured he was just being polite, but I wasn't used to being called that and it made me feel a lot older than twenty-eight.

"Ma'am? How old do you think I am? Ma'am - seriously? I'm fine, thank you," I said, swatting his helping hands away. Since I was already sitting down, I decided to change my other shoe too and slowly staggered onto my feet again while the guy watched me with uncertainty.

"Would you mind telling me where to go? I'm here for the wedding," I asked him, a little sheepishly, but he quickly gave me another smile and shook his head.

"Follow me!" he said and started walking away. He only slowed down when he realized I was about fifteen feet behind him and waited for me to catch up. "I'm sorry for calling you ma'am, but I meant it in a respectful way. You don't look much older than me to be honest," he apologized when I came close enough.

I shook my head, tugging the corners of my mouth into a small smile. I was definitely at least a few years older than him, but I wasn't going to admit that. "No, I'm sorry for snapping at you. Actually," I gently put my hand on his arm, stopping him. "Could you do something for me?"

With the back of the dress now zipped all the way up and with my sneakers in one hand, I finally made it to where everyone was already seated on the white, lined-up benches. A lot of people looked up at me questioningly, but I let my eyes sweep over their faces until they landed on my boyfriend. He waved at me and I excused myself as I had to step over people's legs to make it to where he was sitting, at the other end of the row, closest to the aisle.

I finally plopped down next to him on the bench, now a little out of breath, and let my sneakers drop to the ground by our feet.

"Hey babe," Zade said, draping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into a quick kiss.

"Hi," I breathed out when we pulled away. "How late am I?"

"Uh, I'd say it's been a solid ten minutes since the last people sat down, but the real deal hasn't started yet. Pretty sure they were waiting for you."

"Where's Noelle?" I wondered, realizing our five-month-old wasn't with him.

"With your parents," he replied, pointing behind us. I turned around and it took me a moment before I spotted Taylor and Joe, sitting a couple of rows behind us with Noelle in Taylor's lap. Taylor smiled and waved at me with Noelle's tiny hand when she saw me looking. I waved back, gave her a quick smile, and turned back around again.