My Teenage Bucket List

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep under the stars. But what felt like 5 minutes later and was actually an hour later someone was shaking me awake.

I screamed.

“Shh! Colbie! Shh, it’s okay it’s just me!” Justin said sitting next to me on the blanket.

It was still night and we were still on the beach.

I inhaled and exhaled slowly trying to calm myself down.

“God! Give me a heart attack!” I said, “What are you doing here anyways?!”

“I followed you out here,” he stated.

I scoffed, he would do that, “Why?”

“Because,” he paused and looked out towards the ocean, “I didn’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

I rolled my eyes, “How long did it take you to rehearse that line?”

I stood and began to make my way back to my cart, “You can bring the blanket back with you,” I said, not even sparing a glance back.

He groaned and followed me, picking up the blanket in the process, “Colbie Cheese! Wait up!”

I was already up on the boardwalk, “Stop calling me that! You don’t have the privilege anymore!”

He jogged up behind me, “Why not?”

I stopped abruptly and turned, “Why not? Why not?! How could you even ask such a retarded question?!”

He looked at me, and smirked, “You’re getting mad.”

I huffed, “What’s your point?” I turned and made my way down the stairs back to my cart again.

I put the keys in the ignition and started it.

“Colbie, do you want me to tell your mother you snuck out after midnight or do you want me to keep my mouth shut?” he asked leaning into my cart and getting too close for comfort.
I could smell him; the smell that used to be so familiar to me. Cologne, laundry detergent, shampoo, and this hint of something no one could ever put their finger on; it was just him and it was drawing me away from my thoughts again.

“Uh,” I stuttered, bringing myself back into reality, “Can you stay quiet about it please?” I asked meekly.

“Sure,” he chuckled, “On one condition.”

Oh no, I thought.

I sighed and rubbed my face with my hands, “What is it?”

“Can you please tone down a bit on the harshness?” he asked nicely.

I wasn’t expecting that.

“Um,” I looked back up at his pleading face, “Fine, you just bargained yourself into silence.”

It was true. If I didn’t have anything nice to say then I wasn’t gonna say anything at all.

I reversed the cart and drove out of the parking lot. Justin was soon right behind me and we pulled into the hotel about 5 minutes later.

I turned my keys back over to the doorman and told the man at the front desk I needed my room key back. Justin said the same thing right next to me.

We got our keys back and went over to the elevators. I pressed the up button and we waited. Once it got there we both stepped in and I pressed our floor. The doors closed and we stood there, nothing happening except for elevator music.

And that’s how it was, silent, we walked down the hallway when the elevator let us out and he unlocked the door as quietly as possible.

And we snuck back in.

If you were someone on the outside, your first thought would be that we snuck out to go make out or something.

We walked through the living room and just when I was turning to go back into my room Justin caught me by the wrist and pulled me into him placing a tender kiss on my lips.

Of course the addition of drowsiness, darkness, and the fact that kissing was so unfamiliar to me now I didn’t pull away.

We pulled away and I looked down before he could catch my eyes which were brimming with tears… again.

I looked up quickly and placed a kiss on his cheek before retreating behind my bedroom door.

I took off my hoodie and my shoes and splitting pain went through my head again. So I took two pills and went straight to bed, blocking my thoughts of recent events.



After she had fallen asleep out there on that blanket I made my way out there and lay next to her.

Wow, I’m such a creeper, I thought.

But what could I do? This was the only time I could just stare at her like I used to and not have her snap at me.

At times I just wanted to beat myself up for hurting her so much.

So after awhile, I checked my phone to see what time it was.

It flashed, 1:06 am.

I sighed, I knew I had to wake her up.

I gently shook her shoulder and when she was conscious enough, she screamed like she was being attacked.

“Shh! Colbie! Shh, it’s okay it’s just me!” I said trying to calm her down so no one would hear or anything.

She sat up and began to breathe heavily to calm herself down.

“God! Give me a heart attack!” she said, “What are you doing here anyways?!”

“I followed you out here,” I stated.

She scoffed, “Why?”

I sighed, “Because,” I paused, I knew she would hate me for answering like this but it was true, “I didn’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

I looked back at her right when she rolled her eyes, “How long did it take you to rehearse that line?”

Without hesitation she stood and made her way back to the carts and shouted over her shoulder, “You can bring the blanket back with you.”

I groaned and stood grabbing the blanket and shaking some of the sand off of it and I ran over the sand to catch up with her.

Before I knew what I was saying I had shouted, “Colbie Cheese! Wait up!”

I was running up the stairs when I heard her say, “Stop calling me that! You don’t have the privilege anymore!”

“Why not?” I asked as I walked up behind her.

She stopped abruptly and almost caused me to run into her, her face was contorted with anger and she said, “Why not? Why not?! How could you even ask such a retarded question?!”

I looked at her and I don’t know why but I smirked, “You’re getting mad.”

She huffed and crossed her arms, “What’s your point?” and she turned and kept walking down the stairs.

I followed and she had gotten in her cart and started it already.

I thought of something to ask her before she drove away. I tossed the blanket in my cart and walked over to her, purposely leaning down towards getting inside her bubble, “Colbie, do you want me to tell your mother you snuck out after midnight or do you want me to keep my mouth shut?”

It took her a few seconds to even muster up a reply, “Uh,” she closed her eyes and finished, “Can you stay quiet about it please?” she asked quietly.

“Sure,” I chuckled, then I had an idea.

“On one condition,” I added.

She sighed and rubbed her face with both of her hands, “What is it?”

She thought it was going to be something crazy.

“Can you please tone down a bit on the harshness?” I asked kindly.

“Um,” she looked up at me, “Fine, you just bargained yourself into silence.”

Oh joy, I thought, now she’s not going to talk to me at all.

She backed out of the parking lot and drove down the road back to the hotel.

I hopped in my cart and was on her heels the entire way. Once we were back I handed the keys to the doorman just like Colbie did and kept the blanket tucked under my arms.

I walked up next to her at the front desk and asked for my room key back. I handed them the blanket too and asked them to wash it.

The elevator ride back up to the room was awkward. She was speaking and my claustrophobia caused it to be awkward for me in general anyways.

Once we got up to our floor, we walked down the hallway and I quietly unlocked the door. We walked inside the dark room and we went over to the hallway where are separate rooms were.

I was behind Colbie and before she could walk back into her room I gently grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into me placing a sweet kiss on her lips.

They tasted like salty sea air and lip gloss, she always had a sweet taste. I guess some things never change.

What surprised me was that she didn’t pull away.

Once we did pull away however she looked down as if to hide her face but she quickly looked back up at me and placed a quick kiss on my cheek and in a flash she was in her room with the door shut.

Maybe, she’s not ready to give up just yet either.



“Whoa, whoa, WHOA!” Taylor said, amazed.

“THIS IS TAYLOR SWIFT!!!” I squealed.

She screamed too and Taylor (Swift) laughed.

So, the gist of the morning went like this: woke up, ate lunch (that’s how late it was when I woke up), and now I’m meeting Taylor Swift because of Justin.

“It’s so nice to meet you Taylor,” I said, and I hugged her. I was so excited! She was my idol!

“Nice to meet you too, Colbie,” she smiled and hugged back.

Justin was just standing there, smiling. I hadn’t spoken to him since last night. I had nothing really to say.

“I’m Taylor!” Taylor said cheerfully, just kinda pointing herself out.

“Ha, nice to meet you too,” Tay Swift said.

Best day so far! I thought.

I couldn’t stop smiling. It was a great day.

We spent all afternoon just talking while Justin did his interview then it was Taylor’s turn and we had to leave.

“Hey you guys wanna hang out sometime? Go shopping maybe?” she asked.

Shopping? With Taylor Swift? How could I say no?!

“Sure!” Taylor and I answered at the same time.

“Kay, you’ve got my number, I’ll call you sometime kay?”

“Kay! Bye Taylor!” we said together again.

Well, I’ve just been crossing things off my list left and right.

We all went outside and got back into the car, Justin had a show somewhere in Alabama next so in the morning we were on the road. We needed to get back to the hotel where we could sleep; or maybe that was just me.