"He did what???" Saras voice rang through the coffee cafe causing everyone to turn and stare at the two girls sitting sipping their coffees, their faces now scarlet with embarrassment
"Sorry, sorry, but he did what????" she repeated but this time in just a whisper
"He kissed me" Taylor couldn't help but smile at the memory, it had been short and sweet, no passion and no tongues just a heartfelt thankyou and goodnight and it had been enough, it had been nice
"And did you like it? did you kiss him back?" Taylor nodded that she had, causing Sara to squeal and stamp her feet repeatedly before her face fell in to a serious mask.
"You realise that means you have basically kissed half the school because there aren't many girls that haven't swapped spit with Jason Kelce"
"Have you?!" Taylors reply was sharper than she had intended it to sound and she could tell it had hurt her friend because Taylor knew better than anyone that Sara hadn't kissed Jason, she hadn't in fact kissed any boy.
It wasn't that she was unattractive, in fact she was very attractive, in her own, understated way but she was shy and standoff ish, any boy that attempted to get close, she pushed away so in the end boys had stopped trying. Taylor knew the day would come when Sara would meet the guy that finally piqued her interest and in the meantime she was happy living her love life vicariously through Taylor
"I'm sorry Sara, I didn't mean it like that I'm just...it was nice OK, he treated me really well and when he kissed me it was so nice I don't want to think about half the school sharing that experience with him. I want it to just be ours"
Taylor looked down at her half empty coffee cup and replayed the moment Jason had finally took hold of her hand and pulled him gently to him, they had been standing on her doorstep after he had driven her home from the movies and as his hand came up to cup her face time seemed to slow down. Before she knew it his lips were on hers, slow and soft not asking for anything more than her to match his actions and she had and it had felt...nice.
The fact he had left a rose in her locker that morning just cemented in her mind that she had done the right thing kissing him back. She had made a decision to move on from 'Travis' and focusing on her budding relationship with Jason seemed the perfect way to do that
"I'm going to use the bathroom before we go in to town OK?" Sara downed the rest of her coffee and slipped out of her seat, heading down the wooden stairs to the ladies bathrooms just in time for a tall, brunette to drop down in to her newly vacated seat.
"Wow, that sounds like the most boring kiss in the history of kisses...if you don't mind me saying"
He leaned his chin on his palm and fixed Taylor with an intense gaze she didn't understand
"Evesdropping were you?" Taylors heart had begun the familiar tango in her chest, a dance it only performed when Travis was near
"Pretty hard not to when you and your friend were giggling like the high school girls you are. Do you know how many times you said 'nice' to describe something that should be so much more?"
"Do you know that it's actually none of your business who I kiss?" Taylor was beginning to get annoyed, he had told her he wasn't interested on more than one occasion, he rubbed it in her face at every opportunity that she was a high schooler therefore everything he didn't want in a girl and yet he just wouldn't leave her alone. He still had to turn up questioning her and looking at her like that, his gaze alone threatening to set her on fire
"If I was to kiss you do you think you would be describing it as just nice?"
Taylors heart stumbled through its dance steps for a second and then stopped dead. The thought of kissing Travis pretty much causing it to blackout. When it refound its rhythm it danced at triple the speed it had before
" Just the thought of kissing me and your cheeks go the same colour as your t shirt" he smirked whilst motioning to Taylors red crop top that she had paired with denim shorts and a cream pair of battered converse.
"So tell me, something happens, I bump my head, lose my mind or whatever and I forget my golden rule and put my lips..." he leaned forward across the table so Taylor could feel his breath caress her mouth the way she wanted his lips to "... On yours, do you really think you would be describing it as nice?"
" Why don't you try it and find out" was her sultry reply and for a second she actually thought he was considering it before he pushed himself back in his chair and observed her, his head tilted in concentration.
"I don't think your date would appreciate me doing that, do you?"
Jason...
Taylor felt the sting of guilt as she thought about him placing the rose in her locker and her repaying him by flirting shamelessly with Travis just hours later but she had been honest, she had told Jason that someone else was taking up space in her head and now he was taking up space at the table right in front of her and she was finding herself liking him far more than she ought to, her body reacting to him in a way that could only bring trouble.
"Okay, you didn't come over here to kiss me so I assume you just came over her to tease me. Make fun of my high school romance?" she noticed the way he tensed at the word romance and she liked it, she liked it a lot
"I came over here to say hi"
"Well don't" her face was serious, her eyes bright "You know that I lust after you and you know that you aren't interested but you keep playing with me, turning up and taunting me and I'm a bit sick of it so if you could just stick to your own rule and stop messing with this high school girl and leave me to kiss whoever I want however I want."
Travis couldn't help but chuckle at her tantrum, the way she could so openly admitted to lusting after him did things it shouldn't.
She was right though he said one thing whilst doing the other and he had to work out why no matter what his brain told him, what his mouth said, his being just couldn't keep away from her.
