Three Years Later...

Gina, March 2015, Spring Break

We arrived to the party, which was in a remodeled barn that was just down the road from Nile's actual fancy house. From what I was told though, the parties at the barn were much more fun. We had to drive out a good distance to get here, so I hope it was worth it. I started pulling at my romper that Callie made me wear, missing my long shirts and jeans.

It took a couple of hours, to my dismay, but Callie had finally finished my look back at my house. She rifled through and took out everything, and I mean EVERYTHING out of my closet trying to find something that would be 'appropriate party wear' or whatever the heck that means. She had finally come across a blue striped, frilly romper that she made me buy over a year ago. I had never worn it and it still had the tags on it. When she pulled it out, she rolled her eyes at me, smiled, and immediately made me put it on. It is not that I did not like it, but I just never really had a reason to wear it. Also, I preferred my comfy clothes over ones that were...well...not as comfy.

After I put it on, she threw me a pair of cute sandals, and picked out some small jewelry for me to wear that matched. Then I took my hair out of a bun, and she styled my golden brown locks to be wavy. I looked at myself in the mirror surprised. I usually went for a darker look with ripped jeans, not this girly. I smiled though, because I looked good and felt confident. I liked this new, girlier version of me.

We left after Callie touched up her makeup, and now we were walking up the porch steps. The barn was huge! There was air conditioning, bathrooms, and a nice, new stage set up with instruments where the band was about to play. There were chandeliers hanging up, and additional lights were strung across. According to Callie, the barn was originally built for Nile's older sister's wedding, and now he uses it for parties. I can see why, it is gorgeous! I continued to look around and saw a large snack/refreshment table and several couches and chairs had been brought in. As I was taking it all in, Callie tapped my arm.

"Do you want me to grab you a coke?" I nodded my head. I don't really drink alcohol, and neither does Callie. When we were kids, we lost a friend because of a drunk driver, and it just never became appealing after that. We are also always very careful when driving home afterwards, because we know that others around us are not always responsible. As she went to grab the sodas, I found a chair to sit in and pulled my phone out of my purse to read. Callie thought she won when she forced me to leave my book at home, but I always have a back up. Muahaha, I win this one Callie!

As I was reading intently, my phone was suddenly snatched from my hands. I reached for it and grasped the air, but with no luck. I turned around and saw Callie shaking her head.

"Girl, you need a break from the books." I watched sadly as she turned my phone off and placed it in her purse. "No more phone tonight! You need to socialize! Remember?!' She spread her arms out to make her point. "Meet some people, dance, have fun! Live a little." She went to face me, grabbed my hands and pulled me out of the chair. "Go on and find something to do."

"Cal, you know that I prefer to be anti-social. And who am I supposed to meet here?" I looked around and saw how crowded it was. "Half of these people are drunk, and I have no idea what to do."

"Just go around and look. You will find something." I began to inwardly freak out, and I think she noticed. "Try it, you might find that you like it. Look, I'll help you out later if you are still lost, but right now I kind of would like to go back and talk to punch bowl guy. So I'll meet up with you here in an hour." Then she left me. She brought me and left me to the wolves. Well, that is at least what it felt like.

I began to wonder around the barn, journeying to see if I could prove to Callie that I could not do this. I leaned up against the wall watching people on the dance floor for a while when I noticed a guy heading my way. The guy was well over six feet tall, which would tower me at my average five foot five height. He was a little muscular, but not super brawny. Lightly sun kissed skin as if he just came back from a trip to the beach. His dirty blonde hair was styled to perfection, and his brown eyes twinkled in the low light. He was dressed in a nice, peach colored button up shirt with khaki shorts. He had a very preppy vibe to him, and I almost half way expected him to have a pearly white smile and speak in a robotic language or something. Now, I know it sounds judgmental, but really I just read too many book with these exact details, and this guy is practically screaming prep kid. He seemed like he just arrived here, and he was probably just wanting to know where the drinks were.

I was surprised when he came and leaned against the wall beside me. I noticed that we were close enough to have a conversation if I wanted to start one, but I was totally not about to embarrass myself. As I mentally debated all of this, he causally checked his smart watch and observed the dance floor. We stood there for a few minutes, and I looked at from the corner of my eye. He was taking glances at me. I finally decided to sneak a look, but managed to catch his eye instead when he finally spoke up. 

"Did you see that guy right there fall?" He chuckled as his brown eyes looked into mine. "His dancing makes him look like he's got a squirrel in his pants or something." This guy had a deep, charming southern voice. Surely this was a guy that girls constantly cling to asking for his number and hoping for a date. Play it cool Gina. I smiled at him.

"Well, he's doing better than I would. I'm a terrible dancer." I gave a small laugh and tucked my hair behind my ears. "I'd say that he's rather brave to get back out there after that fall." We both looked back at the scrawny dude with glasses, and then back to each other.

"I never thought of it that way. That he is brave." He glanced at the spazzing dancer again and turned back to me. "Everyone out there seems to love him though. Must be a class clown or something from where he's from." The guy smiled at me and stuck out his hand. "I'm Taylor by the way." I shook his hand and was amused.

"You mean like as in Taylor Swift?" I asked with curiosity considering that I had never met a guy named Taylor before. He laughed heartily before explaining.

"My parents were having a hard time coming up with a name for me before I was born. So, they closed their eyes, flipped through the book, and put their finger down on my name. Unfortunately, they realized that it was typically a girl's name after I was born."

I giggled a little but I had to admit, I liked the name.

"Taylor huh? Well, I think it's kind of cool." I answered softly.

"Really? Thanks, I-" 

"I mean I really like Taylor Swift so." I interrupted with a huge smile on my face. I knew that I had to look super dorky at that moment.

He laughed and then looked at the dance floor before looking back at me with a smile. "I know what you said before, but would you please dance with me?"

"Uhhh...I don't think so." I started to playfully back up when he gently grabbed my hand.

"Come on, just for a bit."

"I don't think so..."

"You don't have to worry,"and he jokingly added, "I am a pretty good dancer, so I am sure that I can make up for all of your dancing."

"Hey!" I said while I laughed.

"Ah, come on, I'm kidding. Come dance with me!" Then he literally did this smolder face at me. Like, I thought only actors could pull that off? Wow.

"Okay, okay," I grinned while surrendering my hands. Then he pulled me out onto the dance floor.