I Was Enchanted To Meet You {A Ted Sweeran Fan Fiction}

Chapter 3

"So where are we going?" Taylor asked Ed while clutching onto her black peacoat that was wrapped around her dress she was wearing, which she had grabbed before leaving the house getting into Ed's car. When the car jolted to a stop at a stoplight, she finally got an answer back after the small silence, "It's a surprise." Ed winked before returning his attention the road and continuing to drive down it.

Taylor's cheeks turned red for about the thousandth time that, not being able to be confident around the handsome guy, she came off shy. Soon she was snapped out of her thoughts when the car jolted to another stop, but this time for good since Ed was putting the car in park. Turning around, Taylor couldn't help but escape a giggle from the place they were eating at: a burger place. Not very "first date" (that's what Taylor considered it as, because friends don't go out to dinner together) worthy, but the part about it that made Taylor giggle was because being the neat freak she is, she wouldn't eat it with her hands, but with her silverware.

When they reached the double doors to the burger place, Ed opened the door and jokingly said, "Ladies first," which made Taylor giggle for the second time that night with Ed. She entered followed by Ed where they were welcomed by the hostess, "Hi, how many people are in your group?" Ed replied bluntly with two, obviously knowing that the hostess knew that there were two people standing at the table. Grabbing two large menus, the girl lead the two through many wooden tables to a booth for two, Ed sitting on one side with Taylor across from him. "Your server will be right with you," the hostess said in a tone filled with fake enthusiasm and handing us the menus before leaving.

Ed immediately got a grip onto his menu, scanning through all of the choices of burgers. Not in the mood to look at all of the choices right this instant, Taylor started to scan the atmosphere of the restaurant, and something caught her eyes immediately.

It wasn't something, though, it was someone, but not someone she wasn't intrigued by, but scared by. Tall. Shaggy brown hair. Dark brown eyes. A tattoo on his left bicep. The person she saw was a server was the mere image of Jackson, but maybe it was because it was Jackson. She saw him leave the table that he was at to another, and she began praying that he wasn't going to serve her and Ed, and to her luck, a teen comes to their table first before Jackson.

"Hi, I'm Hallie, I'll be your server today," the teen said, fishing for her notebook out of her pocket and flipped through the pages before pulling out a pen and asking for drink orders. Both ordered their drinks and then the waitress went away, just to return with two tall glasses of water. She grabbed straws out of her pocket and threw them across the table to the two of them. Taylor put her straw into the glass immediately, drinking a cold glass of water always releived her stress, which was all she was feeling now after seeing her ex.

Hallie took their orders and took their menus before leaving once again but not returning this time. At first we were quiet for a minute, not having a clue about what to say, until Ed broke it, "So, Christopher told me in the car that he had a lot of fun with Alison today at school. He said she might as well be his best friend." That couldn't help but make Taylor smile, knowing that someone admired her daughter that was her age, especially since it had been hard for Alison to make friends ever since she had started the first grade.

"Yeah, Alison really had fun today with Chris too," Taylor says carrying on the conversation until they were talking about all different things: their kids, their families, their lives, their hobbies, EVERYTHING! Their deep conversation was soon interrupted by Hallie returning with two plates held in each of her hands. She set both of them in front of them and they thanked her as she left.

Ed began to dig in quickly, picking up his large burger and stuffing it into his mouth, juice for the plump burger flowing down his chin. Taylor couldn't help but laugh at his carelessness, living in a neat household. She began to eat her burger too, but she ate it like she usually would: with silverware. Then it was Ed's turn to laugh. The way Taylor was eating it was untraditional and mostly weird.

"Hold it like this," Ed said, trying to hold back his laughter while picking up his burger. Taylor rolled her eyes and replied with, "I know how to eat a burger, I'm just a neat freak, thank you very much," before continuing to eat her burger like Ed was.

Both were quiet most of dinner, mostly focused on eating their burgers and fries, and if someone brought up something, it would eventually fade away. They were each so hungry, even less than half an hour passed before both of their plates were completely clean, not including the crumbs scattered across them. Hallie returned to their table a few minutes later, taking their plates and leaving.

Taylor wiped her mouth before saying, "That was really good." Ed smiled with pleasure and replied, "Good. I'm glad you enjoyed dinner." It was Taylor's turn to smile, but right as she was about to talk, she was interrupted by Ed, "I have to go bathroom, I'll be back in a second," then he slid out of the booth and headed across the restaurant.

Nervously, Taylor looked around to see if Jackson was in sight to make sue he wasn't coming towards her. She felt very uncomfortable alone, considering that while she was eating she saw him looking at her, but not coming over because of Ed. Now that he was gone, Jackson could easily come over without being stopped.

Jackson came in sight once again over by the bar, but to Taylor's luck, he was with someone. A girl, and they were kissing. Sighing with relief, Taylor sat back in the booth feeling safe now that he was with someone else, he probably wouldn't bother, but she kept watching him just in case. They finished kissing and he sent the girl somewhere in the kitchen, so obviously she was a waitress. Then the worst thing possible happened.

He saw Taylor.

Making his way through all of the tables and servers, a smirk grew in Jackson's face as he made eye contact with Taylor. She tried not to look, but it was no use, because in a matter of seconds, Jackson was sitting in Ed's place in the booth.

His smile turned into a smirk as he began to start an uncomfortable conversation with his ex-wife, "So long, no see, eh?" Taylor shifted around in the booth and looking away before saying, "Go away Jackson." "How's Alison? How old is she now? School going good for her?" Jackson asked changing the subject quickly to his daughter which he had left, making Taylor rage with anger.

"Alison? You want to talk about ALISON? Your daughter who YOU left?" Taylor said with anger and hurt in her tone. Jackson chuckled, "Uh, yeah. The daughter that I love." "That you LOVE? As I said before, YOU left her! But did I? NO! Because I love her! And I'm NOT going to talk about the daughter I love with someone who broke her heart at a young age, because now she doesn't have the comfort of a father, which you were supposed to play the role of for her," Taylor snapped back, letting all of her rage flow out of her.

Their argument about Alison continued on, finishing with Jackson gripping onto her hands with Taylor trying to wiggle them out of his grip. He held them tighter, making Taylor wince, before looking deep into her eyes and saying, "I want you back Taylor. I've been a mess without you, and also I need to introduce you to someone." Taylor stood still after he said the last few words. "I need to introduce you to someone..." What could that mean? And who would she meet?

Luckily, out if the corner if her eye, Taylor saw Ed open the door to the Men's room, and so did Jackson. He let go of her hands and stood up. "So what do you say?" Jackson asked. Without hesitation, Taylor immediately said, "No," before waving him off.

Ed arrived back at the booth and sat back down, making Taylor feel safe again. Hallie arrived with the check which Ed paid and then they left. 

- 

The car jolted to a stop, stopping Ed and Taylor's conversation. Taylor looked out of the car window to see her house. She opened up the door and stepped out of the car, but leaving it open so she could say goodbye to Ed, "Bye Ed! Thanks for dinner!" Ed smiled, "No problem. I had fun on our first date-erm, I mean our... dinner?" He chuckled in embarrassment, and Taylor blushed as she closed the door of the car. Making her way up to the entrance of her house, her cheeks were still a deep shade of red. Ed probably liked her for saying that, and that was the best thing ever for Taylor to think.

Because she liked him too.