13 Chances

-Twenty two-

~Four years later~

Today I'm graduating from Cincinnati University, I got drafted to the Kansas City chiefs a couple months ago and now I'm sitting in the stands watching the rest of my classmates graduate. I had just barely passed with a criminal justice major.

I almost missed my flight out here since I was in Kansas City talking to the Chiefs coach's.

I'm just looking at my phone waiting for this to be over since I already walked the stage.

"Please give a giant round of applause to our valedictorian, Taylor Alison Swift!" I hear and pause for a moment before my eyes shoot back up to the stage. Well I'll be damned, she's been right in front of me this whole time. I've never seen Taylor around the campus or in the dorm buildings, there's no way she's been here the whole time without me noticing.

I stand up and weave my way through the crowds of people and go over to the staircase at the end of the stage. My hearts beating and my hands are shaking as I wait for her to walk off the stage.

She begins walking down the steps, looking down at her feet so she wouldn't slip, thats the Taylor I remember, always wearing heels when she got the chance.

She gets onto the flat ground and looks up and then immediately stops walking as he jaw drops.

"Hey valedictorian." I say as she slowly walks up to me.

"What are you doing here?" She says stopping a few feet in front of me.

"I could ask the same thing." I laugh and she awkwardly tucks her blonde curls behind her ears.

"Congratulations on the chiefs Trav." She says and I smile.

"Look Tay I want t—" I begin to say but am cut off my the boyish looking blonde boy yelling Taylor's name from behind.

He throws his arm around Taylor and kisses her cheek before turning to look at me.

"Teddy who's this?" The man says and I heavy my expression a bit. Taylor hates being called teddy, she always said it made her feel like a little kid and she just didn't like it at all.

I look back at Taylor and see her already looking at me with flushed cheeks.

"Um Joe, this is Travis. He was my.. best friend in high school." Taylor pointed at me before dropping her hand.

"Oh Travis nice to meet you." He nods his head at me and I grit my teeth into a smile.

"Joe will you go find the car and pull it up, I'll be out in a second." He kisses her cheek and wanders off.

"Best friend huh?" I smirk at her, just trying to steer the conversation away from her boyfriend.

"Oh shut up, you know you were my favorite person." She giggles but her use of the word 'were' felt like it stabbed me in the heart a million times.

"You were mine too Tay." ARE! Taylor you are still my favorite person!

"I gotta go but can I see you again? It would be nice to catch up." She says, playing with the ends of her hair.

"Yeah of course." I say and pull out my phone, opening it to a new contact and letting her out in her number.

"Call me anytime Trav." She says and hands me back my phone and walks off.