The Night You Took Away a Little More Than Just My Breath

“Haha, oh my god you’re so bad!” Jamie squealed and laughed on the phone just as I was getting out of the shower. “That’s so mean. We can’t do that to him.”

I dried myself off and wrapped the towel around my waist. I wiped the steamy mirror off with a wash cloth. I then ran my hand through my hair, playing with it as I listened to Jamie’s phone conversation.

“What’s your plan?” She asked while I was running my hand through my hair, making it all stick straight up. I chuckled at myself. “Tonight? Oh, today?” I puffed my cheeks out and pulled on my ears to make myself look like a monkey. “But wouldn’t that seem a little suspicious since you just saw him?” She laughed again. I slicked my hair back and grabbed my chin, making myself look like I was thinking really hard.

“I’m so stupid!” I laughed at myself and opened up the cabinet.

“Who’s your guy?” Jamie asked. I figured she was talking to Alexis because guys were all they ever talked about. “Oh. Will that irritate him enough?… You sure?” I started moving all of Jamie’s makeup out of the way to get to my toothpaste. “My ex?” She asked. I rolled my eyes and then found my toothpaste. “Yeah, his name is-” As she said his name, all of her makeup came crashing down as I pulled my toothpaste out.

“Goddamn it.” I said, bending over to pick some of her eye shadow and foundation off the ground. I put all back on the little shelves and picked up her mascara and blush that was in the sink.

“I was thinking about inviting him over for-” Another crash as I slid the mascara in between the various eye shadows. “Oh my gosh, hold on.” She said.

Just seconds after she said that I felt a huge gust of cold wind as she flung the bathroom door open. “Are you okay?” She asked.

“No!” I laughed at myself. “You’re fucking makeup is attacking me and all I wanna do is brush my teeth.” She rolled her eyes, took some of her makeup that fell in the sink, and walked back in her room. I heard her shut her door and I couldn’t hear her conversation anymore “Damn.” I said as I quickly brushed my teeth and walked back into my room to get dressed.

I dropped the towel on the ground and just slipped on some boxer shorts, not feeling like putting boxers on. I put my baseball tee back on and heard my cell phone vibrate behind me. I walked over to my dresser and picked it up. ‘Hey. Lunch at Oasis? It’s on me J”

I smiled at the text from Taylor. “Of course. What time?” I texted her back, looking at the time. It was only nine AM, so I had some time. I walked out of my room with my phone and walked into Jamie’s without knocking on her door. She was laying back on her bed staring up at the ceiling with the phone still pressed against her ear, laughing. She looked at me and quickly stopped.

“Oh, uh, I have to go. I’ll text you.” She said and hung up.

I chuckled. “Who was that?”

“Oh.. just.. Uh-Alexis.” Jamie said, sitting up.

“Why are you acting so weird?” I asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

“I’m not acting weird.” She said. “I should be the one asking you that.”

“Haha… Why?” I hesitated as my cell phone vibrated. I flipped it open and it was a text from Taylor. ‘I’ll pick you up at 11:30. Is that alright?’

“Cause you got a boner and just freaked out then ran to the bathroom!”

“Jamie.” I laughed. “What would you do if you got a boner in front of someone?” I said as I texted ‘Yeah. See you then.’ back to Taylor. I closed my cell phone and sat it on the bed next to me as Jamie didn’t say anything. “See.” I said. “You don’t know how embarrassing it is!”

“Whatever.” She said. “Who are you texting?” She asked, getting up to turn on some music.

“Taylor.” I said, laying back on her bed. “She wants to go out to lunch at Oasis.”

“Didn’t you guys just see each other?” She asked. “You’ve only been home for an hour!”

“Wait, why aren’t you at school?” I asked her.

“I got suspended yesterday.” She said. “They thought I was trying to skip.”

“That’s what you get for trying to rape me… again.” I said.

She chuckled. “Whatever, John. Our parents don’t know so don’t tell them.”

“What if they come home from work early?”

“They won’t.” She said.

“Oookay…” I said as she start to play The Starting Line. Jamie looked back at me a laughed as she rolled her eyes and turned the music up.

----

“And what could I get to drink for you two?” The waiter asked us.

“A water, please?” Taylor said.

“Hmm…” I said, looking at the drinks they had on the menu. “Can I get a lemonade with no ice please?”

“Of course,” The waiter said. “I’ll be right back with those.”

Taylor and I were sitting at the outside tables of the café. It was such a beautiful day. The sun wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t humid at all, and it was only a little windy. Perfect weather for me. “You don’t have to pay for me.” I said. “We’re both unemployed and I don’t want you to spend money on me.”

“Oh no, no.” Taylor smiled. “It’s on me! You bought me ice cream last night.”

“But it wasn’t…. ten dollars.” I said, reading the first price on the menu I saw.

“So, it was $6.25. Close enough!”

“So, are we gonna look for a new job together?” I asked, looking up from the menu.

“Of course.” She giggled. “It wouldn’t be the same working without you.”

“I know.” I smirked. “Have any ideas on where to work?”

“No, I haven’t even thought about it.” She laughed.

The waiter came back with our drinks and asked us if we were ready to order. “Not yet, but do you know if you guys are hiring?” I replied and Taylor chuckled.

The waiter laughed and stuck his pad back in his pocket. “Not that I know of…” He said. “But I’ll check.”

“Okay, thanks.” I said as he began to walk away.

“John. I can’t believe you did that.” Taylor laughed.

“What?” I said. “I honestly think I’d be nicer to work here. Its fancier than shitty Johnny Rockets.”

“You got that right.” Taylor said, looking back down at her menu.

“I’m thinking about a… chicken sandwich.” I said, looking at the menu also. “Oh wait, maybe one of those turkey sandwich things that have 3 pieces of bread. You know?” I looked up at Taylor.

“No... I don’t.” she laughed with a confused face. “I want a salad. A chicken salad.”

“That sounds good too…” I said. “Oh my god. I suck at picking out what I want to eat.”

“Well you might as well order everything you want because you can never gain a pound.”

“Oh, whatever Taylor.” I joked at her.

The waiter came back with his pad and pen in hand. “Ready to order?”

“Uh, Johno, you ready?” Taylor asked me.

“You go first cause I’m still deciding.” I said, looking at the menu quickly.

“Just a chicken salad for me, please.”

“Uh huh.” The waiter responded as I heard him writing it down, then he turned to me.

“Can I get the crispy orange chicken bowl?” I asked as I closed my menu and looked up at him.

“Of course.” He said, taking our menus. “That will be right up.”

“Thanks.” We both said, then Taylor turned to me. “So what happened to the chicken sandwich or the turkey with three pieces of bread sandwich thing?”

“…I changed my mind.” I laughed.

“You’re a mess.” She chuckled as she glanced over to a table behind us and her eyes got wide.

“So.” I chuckled. “Hey, what are you doing tonig-”

“Taylor?!” A guys voice from behind me exclaimed.

“Kyle?!” I watched Taylor’s eyes follow this persons face as he walked up to our table. She stood up and hugged him as she said “Oh my god! I can’t believe it!”

This guy was really tall and skinny. He had dirty blonde, long hair and was wearing just a plain white t-shirt with some dark blue swim trunks. He looked like one of those surfer kids that came straight out of LA. “Oh, pull up a chair!” Taylor exclaimed. “Sit sit.” Kyle did as she said and sat at the edge of the table. “Kyle, this is Johno.” Taylor gestured towards me. “Johno, this is Kyle.”

He stuck his hand out to me and I took it, shaking it. “Hey Johno, nice to meet you!”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too.” I said, leaning back in my chair.

“Kyle and I were friends back in high school and I haven’t seen him since.” Taylor explained to me.

“Well, actually we were together.” He winked at her. I gave him a dirty look as he placed his hand on her leg. Taylor cleared her throat at me and gave me a you-better-be-nice look on her face. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you two dating now?”

“No.” Taylor said. “We’re just friends…”

I gave a fake laugh as Kyle sighed with relief. “So, what are you doing now?” He asked her.

“Just going to a local college and living with my brother. Nothing too exciting.” She said. “How about you?”

“I’m living in California! Just hanging out and working at a surf shop.” He chuckled. ‘I knew it.’ I thought. “I’m here visiting my parents for a few weeks.”

“Oh really?” Taylor’s eyes lit up. “Where do they live?”

“I forget what the neighborhoods called but its just down the street and around the corner.”

“Oh, then that might be my neighbor hood or the one next to it!” Taylor exclaimed. “That’s so weird!”

“Really?” He laughed.

“Yeah!” Taylor smiled. A few more minutes of small talk went by and I began to look through my phone. I had a new text from Garrett. As I opened the text, I heard Taylor’s flirtatious little giggle. I glanced up and they were sitting closer together as she ran her hand through her hair. I rolled my eyes and looked back down at the text.

‘Why aren’t you at school? I have some important news to tell you!’ It read.

‘Late night.’ I simply typed. ‘What is it? Can it wait until tomorrow?’ I hit send just as the waiter approached our table once more with our food. He sat it down on the table.

“Oh, thank you.” I said.

“No problem.” He said. “Anything else you need?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Taylor responded.

“Okay.” Kyle looked at us and smiled. “I’ll let you guys eat. But first, Taylor, can I get your number? Maybe we can hang out tonight and catch up more.”

“Uh, oh yeah. Of course!” She said as I dug into my chicken, rice, broccoli and almonds. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and I watched as he handed it to her. She wrote her number on his hand and he kissed her on the cheek before he got up.

I watched him walk away without saying bye to me and I heard Taylor sigh as she dug into her salad. “Are you alright?” She asked.

“No.” I said. “I don’t like him.”

“Oh, come on John.” She said. “You don’t even know him.”

“I know him well enough to know that he still wants you.” I said. “I can tell, and you were leading him on.”

“I was not leading him on.” She said. “He’s just an old friend.”

“Yeah, that’s what you called us too.” I said. “Just friends…”

“So?” She asked. “Isn’t that right? If not, what are we?” I sat there silently poking around my bowl of food. “Besides, why do even care?”

“Why do I care?” I repeated. “I care because I have feelings for you, stronger than just a friendship and seeing you with that guy hurt.”

“So, why don’t you be more specific about your feelings?” She finally took her first bite of her salad.

“I was last night.” I said.

“Oh, no you weren’t.” She said. “I don’t know how you really feel about me anymore.”

“What?” I said. “Just last night I told you I liked you.”

“No, you just answered my question with a simple ‘yes’.” She said. “I brought it up first.”

“Taylor.” I sighed as I reached over to grab her hand. “Let’s not talk about this right now.”

She pulled her hand away. “If we don’t right now then we never will.”

“Then I guess we never will.” I said a little too harshly. “Just drop it.”

She didn’t say another word after that. We sat there and ate silently until finished. The waiter came back with the check and I paid for the both of us. She didn’t reject, she simply got up and walked to her car as I followed. “Sorry.” I told her when we were halfway back to my house.

She just kept her eyes on the road. “You carry too much drama, John.” She said. “I can’t deal with that right now.”

“You call a small heated conversation drama?” I said. “If you go out with that guy tonight there will be drama. Please, don’t go out with him.”

She pulled up in my driveway and put the car in park. “Watch me.” She looked at me and said.

I glared at her and got out of the car. I walked up to my door as I heard her pulling out of the driveway. I sighed as I took my jacket off and threw it on the couch. I walked up to my room and fell on my bed. I flipped open my phone and saw that I had another text from Garrett.
‘I guess it can wait until tomorrow. See you then.’ It read. I closed out that text and opened up a new one, typing in Taylor’s number in the address line.

‘You don’t know how much I care about you. Don’t fuck up a good thing that hasn’t even started yet.’ I wrote, closed my phone and threw on the ground next to my bed.