The Only Living Boy in New York

FORTY SIX

Van

I told Taylor we were staying around London, but lied. I'd booked us a suite in a boutique hotel in Brighton and drove us there when we left Matty's. I think she was in still in shock from meeting him and had barely said five words to me through the whole commute.

When we arrived, she immediately relaxed. I knew she loved being anywhere near the water and I watched her take it all in with a smile on my face as I helped the bellhop unload our luggage.

Our room had a balcony and a view, which Taylor loved. It was beginning to cool off in Brighton for the year, but it wasn't too cold that we couldn't sit outside and enjoy it. She parked herself out there while I meandered the lobby in search for a bottle of wine. The receptionist at check in kept looking me up and down and I tried to keep my composure. She was young, and I wondered if she recognized me. If she did, she said nothing, and I was grateful for that.

By the time I returned to the room with a bottle in my hand, I was more than ready to unwind. Traveling sometimes took the life right out of me. We'd been throughout a good chunk of the UK, and while I was elated to spend time with my parents, the onslaught of visiting family members, dinners, lunches, parties and get together while we were here, wore me out. But I loved England, and I forgot how good it made me feel.

I opened the wine and filled the glasses in the room, carrying one out to Taylor who was reading a book with her feet propped up on the balcony, the English Channel opening up against the horizon below us. Taylor smiled as I handed her the glass and sank in the chair across from her on a sigh. She folded her book in her lap and turned to me.

"You look exhausted."

I smiled as I sipped the wine. "Traveling wears me out these days. It used to be so different. We'd go on these tours for months and months and I'd just go through the motions and sleep here and there. I know my lifestyle contributed to my ability to burn the candle at both ends easily." I let my thoughts drift for a moment to a time that seemed so far away now. "A week with my parents was more exhausting than relaxing, and now that we're here doing nothing, I can tell how much I needed this."

Taylor smiled and stretched beside me, extending her arms into the air.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Matty. I wanted to surprise you."

She bit her lip. "You definitely surprised me."

I chuckled. "I've never seen you so shocked."

"I'm embarrassed. I'm sure I was acting like a fan."

"Naaa, not one bit. You were very blasé about the whole thing."

"He's just so....interesting. Lyrically he's a genius, but he's got this whimsy about him I can't understand."

I bit my lip. "Awe jeeze, now don't go falling in love with him instead of me. Maybe I just made a mistake with this introduction."

Taylor stood up for a moment before tossing back a swig of her wine and straddling herself over top of me on my chair. My free hand found her left hip easily a she rested against me, lowering her face to mine.

"Not a possibility."  Her lips pressed against mine softly and I could taste the remnants of the wine she just drank.

She paused. "I missed being able to do this with you without the fear of being caught." She smiled sheepishly as she pressed her lips against mine again. My grip on her hip tightened.

"We coulda gotten away with it. I told you, I'm a pro at being sneaky, least I used to be."

"Such a ladykiller, Ryan..." I shuddered as my full name rolled off her tongue easily.