Reflections - Tay Jardine & Jenna McDougall (Wattys2015)

12 - Rumor Mill

Tay POV

Sometimes I really hate Twitter. Everybody is asking me who I'm dating.

"I'm starting to get sick of it," I say to Jenna. We're hanging out at the To Write Love On Her Arms tent.

"Well, you could tell them."

"The internet knows everything about me. I kind of want to keep something to myself."

She laughs. "Then don't complain."

I lean into her ear and whisper, "I would kiss you right now, but that would ruin the surprise."

"You're no fun."

I shrug and continue to scroll through my news feed. I get bored and pull up my camera. I take a picture of Jenna on her phone. She looks at me and sticks her tongue out. Another picture.

"Yeah, that one's going on Twitter." I giggle.

I tweet the picture with the caption: with this loser @jenalive11

Her phone dings with the notification. She sees the picture and glares at me. "You suck."

"I know."

 I glance back down at my phone, my eye catching one tweet in particular.

@tayjardine are you dating @austincarlile ???

"How many people think I'm dating Austin Carlile?"

"Do you really want to know?" Marcie, the girl working the tent today asks.

"Not really." I look at Jenna, then to my phone. "Okay, time to clear the air."

To clarify: Austin Carlile and I are NOT dating.

I turn my phone and show Jenna. She smiles.

"You know you didn't have to do that." She tells me.

"I wanted to. I would've had to do it eventually."

We sit in comfortable silence until Jenna's phone beeps. "I gotta go. It's signing time."

I stand up and give her a quick hug. "I'll text you later."

She leaves and soon after, I do too.

"Tay, you need to tell Twitter who you're dating," Rob says.

"Why?"

"Because all of us are getting asked, and we can't tell them."

"I'm sorry," I tell him, then put pink lip gloss on.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To spend time with my girlfriend, because after the shows end is really the only time we can actually act like girlfriends."

"Have fun." I pull my lanyard over my head and make my way to the door. "But not too much fun."

"God, Rob, you're such a killjoy."

I leave, then go to Tonight Alive's bus. Jenna is outside waiting for me. I peck her lips, before going inside.

Jake, Matt, and Whakaio are in the back lounge playing a video game, and Matt is in his bunk. We sit in the front lounge. Jenna puts her legs over mine, and she lays her head on my shoulder. My phone beeps continuously with Twitter notifications.

"Oh my freaking god, what the hell do they want." I say to no one in particular, while putting my phone on silent. I'm used to constant notifications, but this is a personal record.

"To know who you're dating."

"I'm gonna have to tell them soon, aren't I?"

"That or your phone's going to blow up from all the activity."

I kiss the top of her head. I start to think about ways to tell the fans that I'm dating Jenn. I think they'll be more shocked to find out that I'm gay. Then it hits me. "I have an idea."

"What is it?" She shifts so she's looking at me. I tell her my not-so-evil plan. "Are you sure that's how you want to do it?"

"Positive. Unless you don't want to, because you're opinion matters too."

She kisses my lips, then pulls back and says, "I'm in."

I wrap my arms around her, and pull her closer to me. "You're awesome, you know that right?"

"I've been told a time or two."

We sit like that until my jeans get uncomfortable. "Jenn, do you have any shorts I can wear?"

She untangles herself from me and grabs a pair of shorts from her suitcase. I accept them, and change in their bathroom. Jenna takes my jeans from me, folds them, and puts them at the end of her bunk. We resume sitting on the couch; this time she turns the TV on.

We watch Friends reruns until we fall asleep.

Like I said, some chapters will be short and shitty.

So I started my first day of high school today. I SAW A FREAKING CUTE GUY WITH FLIPPY HAIR AND SKINNY JEANS AND HE WAS WEARING A MEMPHIS MAY FIRE SHIRT AND HOLY CRAP I NEED TO TALK TO HIM.

XoXo

~XhannahX