the stars in your eyes | t.s. one shots

inexperienced (2)

It was the best date he'd ever been on. Travis is riding the high from it for several days. He just can't seem to get Taylor off of his mind. The next weekend, Travis plans another date. This one's more casual- the kind that she can wear jeans for. Taylor knows it's still going to be fun- maybe even more so if she's not fussing over her outfit and hair and makeup, trying to look perfect the whole time. She gets to let loose a little bit more.

They start the night at an indoor mini golf place, where it quickly becomes clear that Travis is going to kick Taylor's ass, but she doesn't even care. She's just enjoying being around him. 

"We don't have to keep score," he laughs as she hits the ball for the seventh time on a hole with a par of three. He'd gotten it in two shots.

She hits the ball again. "I think it's gonna go in this time!" Then, right when it looks like it's going to fall into the hole, it twists directions. "This thing is rigged."

"Of course it is," Travis laughs, smirking over at her while she chases after the hot pink golf ball. "That's the whole point."

"Okay, okay. I'm gonna do this." Her tongue pokes out of the corner of her mouth and she narrows her eyes while planning out her shot. Travis can't help but think that it's really cute. By some miracle, Taylor hits the ball and it bounces it off of the back board and rolls into the hole.

Travis laughs and rubs her back. "Good job, Tay." Then, they move onto the next hole. "I'm not writing your score down for that one. We're four holes in and I don't think you've gotten less than ten on any of them, girlie."

"Hey!" she laughs. "I told you I was bad at mini golf." She playfully hits his chest and as soon as she does, she's a little bit taken aback. Her fingers graze his muscles and she freezes. She's a little bit surprised at how jacked he is as she feels his pecs and abs right through his shirt, even though she doesn't know why it catches her off-guard- he is an athlete, after all. Even more so, she's surprised because she's never touched anyone like that- and she didn't even think twice about it.

Travis is a little surprised too, but he doesn't let himself show it. He can already see the difference in the girl standing in front of him, from last week in that booth versus tonight. He knew that the mini golf would do that to her- it would give her something to laugh about and loosen her up. Even if she is somehow every bit as bad as she'd told him she was.

After they've made it through the course, Taylor's happy and smiling, holding his hand while they walk down the block to the bar.  There's a little spring in her step, Travis notices. They'd spent the week texting, getting to know each other better from a distance. On top of that, she'd talked it all over with Abi the day before, who had smiled at her and said, "It sounds like you really like him, T."

For the first time, Taylor didn't want to sink into a hole in the floor at the thought of that.

"Hey," Travis says to her when they're standing outside of the bar beneath a streetlight. He tucks two fingers beneath her chin and brings her gaze up to his. "You know I've been thinking about kissing you all week?"

"Really?" she asks, blushing as she looks up at him. She doesn't know if the chill that runs down her spine is because of the little breeze or the way that he's looking at her and the words that he's saying. He nods, so she takes a deep breath and closes the distance between them, standing up on her tiptoes to reach his lips. When she pulls away: "I have too." The words are quiet yet certain.

He chuckles, pulling her in, wrapping one arm around her torso and the other to hold her head against his chest. She can hear his heart beating, almost as quickly as hers is. "I really like you, Tay," he whispers into her hair.