Where We Begin

Chapter 29 - I Heard You Made Quite A Scene

Sept 16th, 2002 - Busta

"Jakey! My dude, what's up?" I exclaimed, grabbing my friends shoulders, causing him to drop the books he was collecting from his locker.

He sighed, with a smile, and picked them up. "You seem like you are in a much better mood than last week." 

I pretended to ponder for a moment. "I'm footloose... fancy-free... you know, I think you're on to something."

"With a smile that big, I'm hesitant to ask how it went making up with Taylor. Please skip any dirty details, she's like a sister to me, you know. Not that I need any more of those..."

"Nothing dirty to tell," I laughed. "Everything is just really, really good. I told her I loved her."

Jake's eyes widened. "Whoa. That's a pretty big deal. What did she say?"

My smile somehow stretched even wider.

Jake patted my back. "Congrats, man. I'm happy you two worked it all out. "

Suddenly, Taylor was right in front of me. She looked incredible with her tousled waves and bright pink lips, which she immediately planted on my cheek. 

"We were just walking by. I wanted to stop and say hey before we have to go to calculus," she said.

I glanced behind her and noticed Amber and Kiki were with her too, but my attention was quickly back on Taylor. 

"Hey," I replied, taking her hand and squeezing it lightly. 

"Hey," she repeated, a dreamy look in her eyes. "I'll see you after practice tonight? We can watch a movie or something?" 

"You got it. Love you," I whispered.

"Love you too." One more squeeze, and she and Amber headed off down the hall. 

Kiki stayed with Jake and me, since none of us were attending crazy AP classes any time soon. She giggled and gave Jake a look. He nodded.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Despite the loud classmates and slamming lockers, it wasn't hard to overhear you two lovebirds," she smirked. "I mean, Taylor already spilled the beans about you two saying the big L-word, but that PDA would have told me the same thing. It's very cute and you both look so happy." 

I couldn't help but puff out my chest and stand a little taller. "Yeah, it feels good to be in love. Like, I wouldn't change anything about my life in this moment. It's all good."

"Well, you might want to change one thing," Kiki said, handing me a compact mirror from her purse. 

I clicked it open and saw Taylor's perfect lip print, clearly displayed on my cheek. I laughed and handed Kiki her mirror, in exchange for a tissue to wipe the makeup off. 

* * * * *

Later that afternoon, I was making the long walk back to the locker room after lacrosse practice. Football obviously gets the main field for practice, so we use one of the soccer fields on the far side. 

I was always naturally slim, but I was definitely out of shape. I basically quit doing sports after pee-wee leagues to be home more with my brother. Landscaping was hard work sometimes, but it didn't involve sprinting and drills. Lacrosse was kicking my ass, but it felt good to get out and be active again. Plus I could really stand to gain a few pounds of muscle. I looked scrawnier than I actually was next to Jake's arms and Brent's... well, Brent in general.

Speaking of which, I passed the football practice on my way. I noticed Jake right away, effortlessly throwing spiral passes to a teammate. I was thinking about what a good call it was that I turned down Jake's many invitations to try out when I almost ran into Kit.