Chapter 4
Taylor
For once, I was on time for history class. Well, I was wandering in the door just as the bell rang. That was about as on time as I ever got. I took a seat that happened to be behind Cindy, one row over. She glanced at me and smiled as if to say hi. I smiled back wanting to be friendly. However I was determined to pay attention to class, and not her.
That little plan didn’t last so long. After about five minutes into the lecture I got bored and started looking around the room. I noticed Cindy out of the corner of my eye. She was running fingers through her chin-length blonde hair trying to keep it out of her eyes. I noticed she did that a lot.
Without even realizing it, I became enthralled with watching her. Her was face was at an angle to me so I could just barely see her profile. She had a bored look on her face. Soon she began chewing on the tip of her pen. I was surprised at my body’s reaction when I noticed her tongue dart out and lick her full lips. My heart rate sped up, and I forced myself to look away. ‘Stop it’ I told myself, ‘you don’t like her.’
However my eyes were not as good at resisting temptation as my brain. Soon they were focused back on Cindy, taking in the bare skin that her tank top exposed on her shoulders. Her shoulders were slightly more broad and muscular than the average female. I wondered if she was an athlete of some sort. Suddenly I scolded myself again. I realized I knew next to nothing about her, and I couldn’t get my mind off of her. That wasn’t very healthy.
The rest of the class period I tried desperately to focus on the lesson. It was tough at first, but pretty soon I had completely forgotten everything else. I was quite proud of myself for actually listening today.
Then the bell rang and she crossed my line of vision again as we stood to leave. “Hey Taylor” she said innocently as she walked past me.
“Yeah hi, uh…see you in class this afternoon” I called after her feeling stupid.
I walked to my next class with a frown on my face. The rest of my morning was kind of in a fog. I tried desperately to figure out what was going on.
Cindy was a nice, pretty girl. I couldn’t get my mind off of her. But I barely knew her, so I couldn’t like her yet right. Yet? I guess that was the key word. Maybe if I got to know her I would find that I really liked her. Maybe I’d find I didn’t. Or maybe she’s just wind up being a good friend. Either way, the answer was right in front of my face. Just get to know her a little better, and then go from there. It was as simple as that.
It was lunchtime by then, and I was wandering around the halls with the guys. I happened to glance out the doors in front of the cafeteria and noticed Cindy eating her lunch outside by herself. The perfect opportunity to talk to her presented itself right away.
“Hey guys, I’ll catch up with you a little later” I told my friends.
“What are you up to Hanson?” my friend Mark asked. He followed my line of vision to see what I was looking at. “Oh, I see. A lovely lady awaits Taylor torment.”
“Shut up asshole” I slugged him in the arm. I stalked away ignoring their snickers. I didn’t care, this was something I needed to take care of, and they’d have to deal with it.
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Cindy
I looked up from my lunch just in time to notice Taylor walking towards where I was sitting. “Hey” I called out to him excited.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked taking a seat next to me.
“Not a lot, just eating. How about yourself?” I asked.
“Nothing really. I just noticed you out here by yourself. I thought I’d come out and say hi. Maybe keep you entertained for a while” he told me.
“Oh really” I laughed. “And just what does this entertainment consist of?”
“Nothing special really. I just thought I’d come by for a chat. You know, you haven’t told me that much about yourself” he said.
“Well neither have you, but I guess I’ll play your game. What do you want to know?” I asked.
“How about what Cindy does in her spare time” he suggested.
“Well, I’ve grown up playing sports with my dad a lot, so I guess you could consider that my main hobby. Of course, I could also spend the day in a mall and be perfectly content. Other than that, things tend to change with each move and each group of friends” I told him.
“You sound like you’re really close to your dad” he observed.
“Yeah well, its just the two of us, so we try our best to get along” I said.
“Oh, I didn’t realize that. Must be nice sometimes,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, I have 8 other people to deal with, sometimes I wish I didn’t have so many” he explained.
“Do you not get along with your family?” I asked.
“I get along with my baby sister just fine. Its everyone else I have trouble with sometimes. My parents like their fancy parties with their snobby Country Club friends. They have 6 little angels who do everything they are told, and like all their stuffy events. And then they have me. I like to have fun, be a little wild sometimes. It gets me in trouble a lot. Sometimes for valid reasons, sometimes not” he told me. I couldn’t help but notice a bit of sorrow in his voice. “Sorry” he said suddenly. “That was way too dramatic.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t mind” I assured him.
Just then the bell rang ending lunch. We stood and headed into the building. “Hey, do you need another ride home?” I asked hoping to lighten the conversation.
“Nah, my parents caved and gave me my car back” he said.
“Oh” I said slightly disappointed for some reason.
“Hey, you want come over or something after school?” he asked.
“Sure, I guess” my heart started pounding again at the thought.
“Alright, well I guess I’ll see you in class later” he said.
“Later” I said and walked away feeling strangely elated.
