An Enchanted Night

18*The Gossip

Taylor studies the man sitting next to her. She never expected to be spilling her deepest fears to a stranger in the woods, alone, after midnight. Ever since she moved, she's been careful how she steps, trying to avoid any egg shells. She's worried that any misstep will result in losing Abigail, a friend she loves. She's hesitant to talk to Abigail about any grievances, because she wants to keep their friendship strong.

But, Taylor realizes, this green-eyed stranger is right. Not talking to Abigail for fear of losing her would only lead to bad energy festering and might result in losing her anyway. Taylor's social anxiety keeps her from being honest with people sometimes, she knows it. Even with her old friends, she never was truly honest with them. The only difference was that they'd grown up together, so they knew exactly how to push or avoid her buttons.

The truth was, she had gotten lucky in finding their friendship so young. She didn't have to work for it. They just always had each other. They had always understood each other. Taylor had tried to treat her friendship with Abigail the same, unintentionally expecting her to get her like her old friends had, just because Abigail had seemed to right from the start. Taylor had put such a heavy expectation on Abigail, all the while frustrated by the perceived expectations she was putting on Taylor.

Taylor knows that she needs to have a conversation with Abigail, sort everything out. Because she knows her and Abigail can be good together. Abigail can remind Taylor to embrace attention and be confident. Taylor can remind Abigail to go about it gently, to recognize when she should back off a bit.

And it was all because of this stranger, Taylor is reminded when he glances sideways at her, that she realized her own fault in her friendship. She's not sure why she was able to open to him so easily. Was it because he didn't know who she was? He wasn't expecting anything of her, except maybe the fact that she'd gossiped about him. But he wasn't thinking of her as the new girl, as the shy girl, as the girl who Abigail boasted can sing. She was just a girl in the woods.

She doesn't know his story, either. Not really, anyway. She has a vague understanding, but it isn't confirmed, and it certainly isn't from his viewpoint.

"What are you thinking so intensely about?" he asks suddenly, humorously looking at her.

Taylor smiles and answers, "I was just wondering when you were going to set the story straight. Tell me who you are, so I can get my info directly from the source."

"Why, so you can bring the gossip back to your friends?" he scoffs.

"I would never," Taylor says seriously. "Besides, if they already know this gossip like you say everyone does, they wouldn't find it interesting anyways."

He looks at her, "Like that's true."

"I know, I was just trying to break the tension," she softly says. She looks him right in the eye when she continues, "I won't tell anybody, I don't even know your name. And you don't know mine. That's why I trusted you with my secrets."

"Two strangers, alone in the woods, spilling our darkest thoughts," he chuckles and looks away.

"What a marvelous idea," Taylor giggles back. She's watching him, waiting for him to start talking when he's comfortable.

"What do you already know?" he quietly asks, an unsure quiver in his voice.

"I thought we already established that I don't know anything. Second-hand knowledge might as well be zero knowledge, in the grand scheme of things," she jokes before getting serious, "Just start wherever you feel most comfortable."

He slowly nods his head and then murmurs, "Tonight was the first time I've been back on that motorcycle. That stupid hunk of metal and I made it out fine besides some bumps and bruises."

"Why tonight?" Taylor genuinely wonders.

"I should say, 'It's because it's been a year,' that, 'It's time,'" he begins. "But really it's because of Benji."

"Who's that?"

"My best friend. He arranged the tribute for tonight," he answers, smiling softly.

"A tribute?" Taylor asks like she's got no idea what he means. She doesn't want to be the one to bring up his sister, though.

He looks down, at the flowers, as he says, "My sister."

Taylor nods, not daring to make a sound at such a vulnerable moment for him.

"I used to come every year with my sister, and we'd sing together. The last few years we'd sneak out of the house, on that stupid motorcycle I bought," he mutters, shaking his head, like he's scolding his past self. "Last year, we were driving back home when someone hit us, a drunk driver."

Taylor can feel her eyes watering the more he talks.

"So Benji set up this tribute, and he wants me to sing it. I think there's a backup singer if I don't, but he'd rather I do it."

"Are you?" Taylor questions, as soundlessly as she can.

"I don't know, maybe," he glances around the clearing, scanning it like he's searching for something. "We'd always listen to the show here though, before competing."

Taylor sits up instantly, now fully aware of this place's significance to him. She understands now who carved the path with their feet. Why the grass started to grow back. 

It's because she died. 

It's because they stopped coming.