When he announces that he is going to drop out of school and move to LA to pursue a music career, Taylor is the only supportive one. She tells him that she’s incredibly proud that he is going to chase his dreams, one of them should. They find time to hangout one last time before he makes the big move. They’re sitting in her bedroom and Ed is replaying that night after graduation, remembering everything that happened in the bed he is sitting on. As if Taylor can read his mind she shoves his shoulder hard.
“I know what you’re thinking about” She accuses, but her smile is soft.
“How do you know what I’m thinking of?” He challenges with a cheeky smirk. He watches her cheeks get hot and her teeth sink into her bottom lip.
“Because, I’m thinking about it too…” She admits, meeting his gaze wearily.
“Do you regret it?” It’s a question he’s been dying to ask this past year. An idea that had haunted him the whole summer she didn’t speak to him.
“No” She whispers with a shake of her head. “It’s one of the few, right decisions I’ve made” The room grows tense. Ed can feel himself gravitating towards her. Those clear blue eyes just sucking him in. Is she doing this on purpose? Is she intentionally drawing him closer? It’s a magnetic pull until their noses are practically brushing.
“It was the best night of my life” He tells her, breathing the words on her lips. He can hear her breathing heavily, mouth parting open. In that moment the reality of everything hits her. The boy who has been by her side for almost fourteen years is about to move across the country and she doesn’t know if she’ll ever see him again. Her first love may never be coming back. So, she closes the distance and kisses him. It’s unlike any kiss they’ve ever shared. It’s not timid like that first one when she was only twelve years old, not nervous like that night she gave him her all. It was just passionate and certain. She kisses him roughly, molding to him, expressing those feelings she told him about in those letters last summer.
“What about Jake?” Ed asks, drawing back slightly. Taylor’s honestly forgotten about him in that moment. Her infatuation for him started burning out months ago, but Jake is routine and comfortable. She’s scared to throw that away. She thinks she should feel guilty for doing this when Jake has done nothing but treat her like a princess for the past nine months, but Ed’s been calling her a princess since kindergarten. He’s been her knight in shining armor through it all and now he’s leaving. She doesn’t want to explain it. She’s only ever been good at expressing herself with pen and paper, never out loud. Instead she kissed him again, fisting her fingers in his soft red hair, hoping to get her point across.
It’s not as of jumbled of a process this time around. It’s smoother because this time Ed doesn’t fumble with buttons while taking her pants off. His shirt doesn’t catch awkwardly when she tugs it over his head. They don’t move as slow or timid. It’s rushed a little with both of them feeling their first true surge of lust. Taylor notes the changes in him. His eyes are intense and confident as his lips move along her body. His muscles are a little more toned than before. He’s never been the most fit guy, but he’s always been her teddy bear.
Taylor’s grown as well. Her limbs not quite so awkward and gangly, but instead her thighs are actually quite womanly; and observation that Ed makes while kissing along her impossibly long legs. Her face is still young, but he sees hints of maturity in her bone structure. The knowledgeable look her eyes hold though is possibly the biggest change he notices. This time it’s amazing, and Ed knows it’s amazing. They are both a little more experienced and actually know what to do, how to move, where to touch, and they work beautifully together. A point made obvious when Taylor collapses on his chest, struggling to catch her breath after what her trembling body had just gone through, something otherworldly in her opinion.
“Don’t forget about me when you’re a famous rock star” She tells him with her head resting in the crook of his neck, fingers dancing on his pale chest.
“I couldn’t forget you if I had amnesia” He chuckles. Her fruity shampoo is so potent he can taste it on his tongue while her curls tickle his nose. “You should come with me. You’ve always wanted to be a singer. The songs you’ve played me are wonderful.” He tells her truthfully and finds himself hoping once again.
She sighs. “I can’t…you’re the brave one out of us Ed. I have to stay here.” She’s going to have to stay here, take the safe route. She’ll get her degree, probably end up writing poetry, perhaps even a novel someday. Being an author is less of a stretch than being a musician. She’ll stay with Jake, because he’s safe and sweet, even though her heart craves the boy cradling her sweaty body against his. “I love you” She whispers kissing his neck.
“I love you too” He wipes a tear from her cheek with his thumb, understanding everything she can’t and won’t say.
This time around Ed is the one to leave. He doesn’t wake her in the morning, just indulges in one last glance of her in his t-shirt. She looks like an angel when she’s sleeping. He wants to stay and watch her forever, but he’s got a plane to catch, so he kisses her cheek and leaves a note on her bedside table. When Taylor wakes she tries not to cry at the loss of warmth in her bed. Then she sees that little, folded piece of paper. The short message scrawled in his messy handwriting is burned into the depths of her brain.
I will wait for you…forever and ever.
