[discon.] in another life, darling [kaylor]

sparks fly

nyc. dec. 13. 2017

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday today?" Karlie said, her tone taking on a cadence of offense. "I would have let you pick the restaurant!"

Taylor shrugged, "I guess it just didn't come up."

After the coffee debacle, Karlie invited Taylor to grab lunch with her, claiming to know a really cute café nearby. Taylor agreed that it was cute, but it was more upscale than she was used to. The café had an outdoorsy atmosphere as if it was a cabin in the woods. Inside were seven sleek oak tables, surrounded by metal hairpin chairs, each complete with a different patterned cushion. The windows were half covered by forest green curtains that matched the silverware the café used. Fake vines hung around the ceiling and on the upper walls, while the wooden floor adorned real potted plants.

The two women had been sitting there for close to two hours now, their respective lunches long gone, and the bill paid. They had filled the time up with endless chatter as if they were old high school friends catching up.

"Okay, we've been here two hours and it just never came up; I find that hard to believe," Karlie said, laughing as she spoke.

There was some truth to what Taylor said, there was never a time to slip it in, but it certainly wasn't the whole truth. Taylor hadn't liked her birthday for a long time, choosing to ignore it. There was no real reason to hate it, she just did. Perhaps it was the impending doom she felt every time it came around. Every year brought the same unwelcome feelings of wasting her life, watching her dreams slip further away. But this was a burden Karlie didn't have to know now, not when the conversation was light. "I just don't make a big deal of my birthday."

Karlie shook her head, her eyebrow slightly pulled up, "Everybody makes a big deal about their birthday. I start planning for mine in February."

Taylor smirked, giving her a pointed look, "Not everyone's a Leo."

Karlie rolled her eyes, "It's the one day of the year I can unashamedly have all attention on me."

Taylor thought this was funny because everywhere she went all eyes were on her. She doesn't realize the magnetic force she has on people, how they're drawn to her. She didn't realize she was the Sun, and everyone revolves around her.

"You could get the attention from anyone you want with a simple snap of your fingers," Taylor said instead, going with a watered-down version of her compliment.

Karlie blushed, "Liar."

"Mysterious." Taylor quipped back, a smirk playing effortlessly on her pink lips.

Karlie crumbled up a piece of straw paper and threw it at Taylor, bouncing off her forehead and landing on the floor. It was such a sweet, simple moment, and it came so naturally to them. Taylor felt her heart flutter, and a laugh erupt from within.

"So, what are your plans then, if you're not having an all-out party?" Karlie continued, picking up her glass of water, bringing the straw to her lips. The way Karlie used her slender hands to wrap around the cold glass was never something she'd expect to be attracted to, but Taylor found herself watching in fascination. They were clenched slightly, firmly grasping the glass, and for some reason, that invoked such dirty, unfiltered thoughts. It made her want to know every single part of Karlie, better than she knew her own self. Her mind showed her images of those hands, wondering her body, touching her thighs, her chest, cupping her face.

Her answer was far away, and a beat too slow, "Dinner with some friends and a FaceTime call with my parents."

The glass now set back down, Taylor could shake the thought away easier, coming back to the present as Karlie asked. "So, you're free till then?"