I sat at the table with my mom eating dinner. Honestly, it was probably one of the most awkward things that I’ve been put through. She didn’t try speaking, so neither did I. We just sat there staring at each other.
“Why’d you do it Taylor?” My mom blurts out making me look up from my food.
“It’s not like we intentionally planned it mom. If I would have known in the slightest that Kyle had a gun, I wouldn’t have been around him.” I said looking back down at the table.
“Spencer would have never done something like that.” My mom muttered. I rolled my eyes and scoffed.
“I’m not Spencer mom.” I said through my teeth. My mom always compared me to my older sister who is now in college.
“I know you’re not. “ My mom said to me. “But maybe you should be more like her.” She said again.
“Why can’t you just be happy with me?” I asked throwing my fork down on the table.
“Well, it’s not like you’re making it easy to be proud of you. Not after what you did.” She said to me.
“I made a mistake mom. If I could take it back I would.” I said standing up. “I’m sorry that you have such a piece of shit daughter.” I said before walking out of the house. I bit my bottom lip trying not to cry. Sure I made a mistake, a really big one. But can’t she at least try and move forward?
I kept walking until I felt my feet sink into the sand. I looked at the ground and kept walking, until I ran into something. I stumbled backwards and two hands caught me. I looked up to see a man standing in front of me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.” I said with my voice making a few cracks in between from trying not to cry.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” He said with a British accent. I nodded and stared at him for a minute. He looked really familiar; I just couldn’t put a finger on it. “Are you okay?” He asked rubbing his thumb along my cheek. I hadn’t even noticed I was crying until he touched me.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” I said. I started walking and he caught up and walked with me.
“Where are you going?” He asked. I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” I asked walking along the shore letting the water hit my feet.
“Actually, no.” He said. I didn’t say anything. “So do you live around here?” he asked. I looked at him and shook my head.
“No, my mom thought we should take a little vacation. Sort some things out.” I said. He nodded.
“Yeah, my mom said that I should take one too. But she didn’t come with me. She made me take my little sister.” He said.
“Oh.” I said. I stopped walking and sat down in the sand looking at the waves. He sat down next to me and crossed his legs.
“What’s your name?” He asked me.
“Taylor.” I said to him he nodded.
“I’m Louis.” He said holding his hand out. I grabbed it and shook it. We sat there for a little bit, just watching the water. I stole a few glances at him. I’m not going to lie, he was pretty cute. But that face is all too familiar.
“So, what did you do?” He blurted out and I looked at him confused. “What did you do for your mom to make you come here?” He asked.
“I’d really rather not talk about it.” I said. “What did you do?” I asked him.
“My boss thinks I have some kind of drinking problem. So he said that if I didn’t clean myself up, I was going to be kicked out of the band pretty much.” He said plainly.
“Band?” I asked confused.
“I’m in the band One Direction.” He said as if it we’re no big deal.
“So that’s why you look familiar.” I said nodding.
“Are you a fan?” He asked.
“Well, not really.” I said softly. “I’m not a big fan of pop.” I said to him. He nodded understandably.
“Oh, okay.” He said.
“What’s the thing you like least about fame?” I blurted out. Good going Taylor, I thought as I mentally face palmed myself.
“Not being able to have privacy. It’s like everywhere I go, people are there looking at me. And sometimes it’s overwhelming. People expect something from you, and then other people expect something else. It’s like no matter how hard I try, I’m not good enough.” He said to me.
“I understand what you mean.” I said. “My mom always compares me to my older sister Spencer. She always sees her as this perfect creation, and expects me to follow in her footsteps.” I said to him. He just sat there waiting for me to continue, and when I didn’t he opened his mouth to speak.
“Well, I may not know you personally. But I like you. So I don’t think you should change.” He said to me. I smiled when he said that to me. Simply because nobody has ever made me feel good enough. Not even Kyle and Mark. In some way or another they found a way to nonchalantly bring me down.
We talked a little while longer and then I let out a yawn. Louis and I stood up wiped the sand off of us and he began walking me to the beach house. Once we got there he looked at it and then at the house next door. “You’re staying here?” he asked me and I nodded. “Looks like were neighbors.” He said chuckling. I smiled and turned to go onto my porch.
“Thanks for talking to me, guess you’re not as bad as I thought.” I said more to myself then to him.
“What did you think of me before?” He asked.
“An egotistical bastard, that didn’t really care about anything because he’s a celebrity.” I said with a shrug.
“What do you think of me now?” He asked. I thought about it for a moment.
“I’m not very sure. I don’t know you all that well.” I said to him.
“Well then why don’t you get to know me?” He asked. I thought about it for a moment. What do I have to lose?
“Fine, but don’t think much of this.” I said to him. I yawned and finally headed for the door. “Well, goodnight.” I said to him.
“See you tomorrow.” He called walking away. I rolled my eyes and walked inside. Once I got to my room I sat on my bed and caught myself thinking about Louis. I smiled to myself and turned my bedroom light off before curling into a ball and falling asleep.
