Jake and Taylor: A Love Story

Chapter 1: Taylor

-Taylor's Point of View-

When you think about it the word 'Love' means a lot. For such a small word it has such a large meaning. When I say I love something it usually just means that I like the color of the shirt or I love the movie because the protagonist is hot. But I never really mean it, unless I am talking about my family. Or Jake.

But before I get into that I should tell you who Jake is first. When I was 23, I graduated from college and moved to a small town outside of New York. I didn't know anyone and that was just fine with me. I had just gotten out of a bad relationship. One that had ended in heart break, for many reasons.

One day, about a week after I moved, I was walking down the road, taking in the smell of leaves falling to the ground and the cinnamon coffee I was drinking. Honestly that day I felt pretty. I had on my cutest pair of American Eagle jeans, a white dress shirt with the top 3 buttons undone that fell almost to my knees, a pair of black boots, a sunset orange scarf, and a black pea coat. My blonde hair was down, in its natural curly state, falling and bouncing around my shoulders. My make up was perfect and even though I was walking alone I was on top of the world.

As I was walking I saw a small bar that said they were hiring. I didn't have a job and being new and having my apartment I thought I should at least go in and see if maybe I was even remotely qualified. I walked in the door and talked to the man working at the bar. He was short with long black hair falling above his eyes, he had pale blue eyes. The color of ice.

"Hey," he said giving me a warm smile and looking from my eyes to my hair then my scarf then my eyes again. "What can I get you?"

"Actually I'm here to ask about the job opening." I said looking back at his eyes, they were beautiful but terrifying.

He raised his eyebrows crossing his arms. "You interested?"

"Yes." I said putting my hands on my hips and looking back at him.

"What do you know about bar tending?" He asked grinning.

"I went to a party school." I said smiling back.

"So I take it that you are over 21 and know how to mix drinks?"

"Yes." I said nodding and taking a sip of my coffee, emptying the cup.

"OK, here's the deal, you bar tend right now and if you can get at least 98% of the drinks that are ordered right, you have a job."

I smiled and took off my coat and scarf setting them down and walked around the counter looking for all of the bottles and glasses, taking in my surroundings. Once I had it all mapped out I looked up at the man sitting at the counter with a scruffy white bread and a grey coat that at some point could have been white. "What can I get you?" I asked him smiling. He looked up at me and said,

"Who the hell are you? Where did Carl go?"

I gave him my best people-person smile and said, "I'm Taylor. I'm the new bartender." I said this confidently because I knew by the end of the night, even if I didn't get the job, this guy would be so drunk he would think that I had been a drunken dream.

"OK Taylor, Can I get another one of these?" He asked handing me a empty shot glass. I took it and smelled the little bit of liquid circling the bottom of the glass. I quickly went under the counter and pulled up the bottle of whiskey, pouring him another shot. I pushed the glass back to him gracefully and moved onto the next customer; a couple obviously on a first date. They ordered two mango margaritas which i made without effort, except for I couldn't find the salt. I looked over at Carl and he could see that I was having problems. He looked back at me raising his eyebrows again, still crossing his arms, he pointed towards a small cupboard left of the bar. I opened it looking for the salt, I took it out and applied a reasonable amount to the edge of the glasses, then walked them over to the couple, who were talking non stop about their favorite color hair. Next it was a table of 5. There was 2 women and 3 men. I got their drinks, which were surprisingly easy. They seemed to just want basic, easy to mix drinks.