Fly With Me

Twenty-seven-year-old Taylor Cabot was sitting in the lobby of the three-star hotel. She was behind the desk, waiting for the next person to check in. Suddenly, a tall man, around early to mid-twenties, Taylor thought, walked up to the desk.

“Good afternoon,” she said. “Can I help you?” She thought she’d seen this man somewhere. He looked vaguely familiar.

“Yes,” the man responded. “I’d like a room. Just for the night.” His voice even sounded familiar to Taylor.

“All right,” Taylor said. She handed him a clipboard. “Would you sign your name, please?” She watched the man as he wrote down his sloppy, but readable, name. Where did she know him from? He gave back the clipboard. Even his hand-writing looked familiar.

Joshua Flynn

Taylor had a thought, then laughed at herself. Of course not.

“Excuse me,” Joshua said. Taylor looked at him. Then, she scrambled to get him a room key. Stupid, she thought as she handed him the key.

“Floor four,” she said. “Room three twenty-five.”

“Thank you,” he said. As he took two steps, he turned back. “Excuse me,” he said again. “But, do I know you from somewhere?”

“I don’t know,” Taylor said. “But you do look familiar.”

“So do you,” Joshua responded. “What’s your name?”

“Taylor. Taylor Cabot.” She felt a little weird giving her full name to someone she may not even know.

“I went to school with a Taylor Cabot,” Joshua said.

“And I went to school with a Joshua Flynn,” said Taylor.

“I went to school in Sacramento.”

“So did I.” Could this possibly be the Joshua Flynn she went to school with since kindergarten? The Joshua Flynn that quit high school just six months before they were to graduate?

“Tay?”

“Josh?”

“Oh my God,” Josh said. “I can’t believe this. I haven’t seen you since we were eighteen.”

“Three years now,” Taylor said. “Wow.”

“Look,” Josh said. “When do you get off work?” Taylor looked at the clock. Three twenty-three, it read.

“Seven minutes,” she said.

“All right,” Josh said. “How about we go for a coffee? After I take my stuff up to my room? We can catch up.”

“Okay,” Taylor said. “Yeah. Sure.”

Around ten minutes later, Josh walked out of the elevator. Taylor was in her black jacket, seeing as it was February, and it was chilly outside. Soon, they were walking down the street.

“So,” Taylor started. “What brings you all the way to cold, bleak New York from sunny California?”

“I’m here on business,” Josh said. “I’m a lawyer. Here for a convention.”

Taylor looked at him. “A lawyer. Impressive.” Though, she didn’t see how he could have graduated from law school, seeing as how he quit high school.

“Yeah,” Josh said. “I went back to school the next year. To get my head on strait.” He had just answered her question. “Well? What about you?”

“You’ve already seen my job,” Taylor said. “I’m a clerk at a hotel. Not glamorous, but it’s getting me by.”

“Excuse me?” Josh said. “What happened to going to Belmont? I thought you wanted to sing. And hotel clerk? What’s up with that, Miss Valedictorian?”

“Well,” Taylor started. “Obviously, the whole singing thing didn’t work out for me. And how did you know I was valedictorian?” Taylor nudged him a bit. By this time they were in the coffee shop. “Vanilla Frappuccino, please,” Taylor said to the clerk.

“Same,” Josh responded. “You’re kidding, right?” His attention was now back on Taylor. “Everyone knows you were top in our year. After me, of course.” There he goes, Taylor thought. Always ranting on about how good he is.

“The only reason I had to give that stupid speech was because you weren’t there,” Taylor said.

“Four sixty-one,” said the clerk. Taylor was about to reach into her purse when Josh gave the clerk a ten dollar bill and told her to keep the change.

“What are you talking about?” Josh asked. “You were great. I liked the butterfly analogy. You always were a sucker for butterflies. ‘And now it’s time for us to spread our wings and fly!’” Taylor looked at him. “I was there,” he answered her un-asked question of how he knew what her speech was on. “You didn’t think I was going to miss all my friends graduate, did you?”

“So,” Taylor said. “Have you kept in touch with anyone?”

“Actually,” Josh said. “I work with Ian.”

“Ian?” Taylor said. Then, a look of dawning came to her face. “Ian Rhodes?”

“That’s the one,” Josh said.

“He’s a lawyer, too now?” asked Taylor.

“More like a ‘lawyer-in-training’,” Josh said. “I’m kind of his boss. He’s in town, too you know.”

“All of us should get together while you’re here. Anyone else?”

“Not really,” Josh said. “I kind of lost touch with everyone else. What about you? You keep in touch with anyone?”

“Actually, yes,” Taylor said. “I’m sharing an apartment with Bianca Pieper.”

“Really? What’s Shrimpee doing now?” Josh asked, using Bianca’s old nickname.

“She’s a teacher,” Taylor said. “She teaches art at Grace Athena in Rochester.”

“Hey!” we heard someone yell across the coffee shop. “Quiet down!” As he said this, he pointed to the television. Josh and Taylor watched intently.

“And earlier today,” came the voice of Allison Strother, the news reporter, “at Greece Athena High School, tenth grader Casey Snow and eleventh grader Tyler Osborne were involved in shooting a total of twenty-two people. This includes the killing of thirteen students and three teachers…”

Taylor tuned Allison out. Suddenly, she got up and ran out the door. “Taxi!” she yelled. A taxi stopped, and, before she could shut the door, Josh got in with her. Taylor saw the nametag of the taxi driver. Good old Mr. Nathaniel Tew. “You know where to go Mr. Tew.”

Within ten minutes, they arrived at Taylor’s apartment. She got out, paid Mr. Tew, and opened to door.

“Bianca!” she screamed. She went into every room, but couldn’t find her. It was four. Bianca should have been back by now. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. She opened it to see Officer Brooke Moore.

“Good afternoon, Taylor,” Brooke said.

“Brooke,” Taylor said, nodding to acknowledge her.

“There’s something you should know about Bianca,” Brooke said, getting to the point. Josh was behind Taylor in a second. “Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company.”

“What about Bianca?” Taylor asked abruptly, getting impatient.

“Oh,” Brooke said. “Right. Well,”

“She’s not,” Taylor started slowly, putting her hand over her mouth.

“No,” Brooke said. “She’s been shot in the stomach, but she’ll be okay. She’s at the hospital now.”

Taylor sighed. “Oh, thank God.”

“She’s real lucky,” Brooke said in her southern accent.

“Yeah,” Taylor said. “Thanks, Brooke.” Brooke left and Taylor shut the door.

The next day, Taylor stayed away from the hotel and was now at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Bianca was sitting up in a bed while Taylor was sitting in a chair beside her, talking. Just talking. That’s when Josh decided to show up.

“Hey, Bianca,” Josh said. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Bianca said, with a confused look on her face. “Do I know you?”

“Oh,” Taylor said. “I almost forgot to tell you. This is Josh Flynn. From high school.”

“No way,” Bianca said. “How you doing, Stretch.” There she goes, Taylor thought. Why are people using nicknames, now? It’s been three years.

“Pretty good,” Josh said. “How about you, Shrimpee?”

“Well,” Bianca started. “As you can see, I’m in a hospital bed with a bandage wrapped around my stomach.”

“I can see this,” Josh said. Oh no, Taylor thought. Anything but this.

“If you can see this, why do you ask?” Bianca asked. They said all of this while smiling at their joke Taylor always found annoying.

Josh was about to answer when Taylor said, “Okay. I think that’s enough of that.”

“What’s wrong, Hippie?” Josh asked tauntingly. Taylor only glared at him. “What? You don’t like the name Hippie anymore?”

“As a matter of fact,” Taylor said. “I like the name Hippie. I just haven’t been called that in a while.”

“Do you even remember how you got that name?” Bianca asked. Taylor laughed at the memory.

“Of course I do,” Taylor responded. “It was the first day of the eighth grade. I showed up to school wearing a blue tunic, purple sunglasses, which were my mother’s, worn out jeans, and tie-dye shoes.”

By this time, Josh was laughing. And hard. Probably from what I looked like, Taylor thought.

“Hey!” Taylor said to him, smacking him in the head. “As I recall, you didn’t look too good, either. Stretch.” It was now Josh’s turn to glare.

Bianca was laughing now. “You didn’t look that good, either, Shrimpee,” Josh said.

“Let’s face it,” Taylor said. “Everyone looked like a dork.”

“Josh!” Taylor, Bianca, and Josh looked up and saw a man there in the doorway. He was tall and he was wearing glasses and a red and white tie.

“Ian,” Josh said, nodding his head. Ian only looked around, confused. He looked as if he had run the whole way here.

“Dakota told me you were here,” Ian said. “I thought something had happened. I was worried.”

“No,” Josh said. “I’m fine.”

“Well then,” Ian said, grabbing a chair and sitting near the door. “Who are these lovely ladies and why haven’t I met them yet?” You always were the smooth talker, Ian, thought Taylor.

“You know them,” Josh said. “This,” he pointed to Bianca, “is Bianca Pieper. And this,” he pointed to Taylor, “is Taylor Cabot. They went to high school with us.”

“Really?” Ian said. He looked at Taylor. Then, he locked his gaze with Bianca, blushed, and looked down at his shoes. Josh looked between the two in confusion, while Bianca and Taylor totally understood.

“Ian,” Bianca started. “Ian,” she said again, louder. He still didn’t look up. But what got his attention was when she yelled, “Yo, Sparky!” Using his nickname, Taylor thought. Of course.

Josh looked at Taylor, still in confusion. “I’ll tell you later,” she whispered to him. He just nodded his head. “I’m going to go get some coffee from downstairs,” Taylor said in her normal voice. “Why don’t you come with me, Josh?”

“No, thanks,” Josh said.

“I said,” started Taylor, through clenched teeth. “Why don’t you come with me, Josh?” She had a smile on her face. But Josh knew better.

“Sure,” Josh said. “Why not? We’ll be back later, you two.” With that, they walked out the door, got into the elevator, went downstairs, got their coffee, and went into the downstairs waiting room, all in silence.

“So,” Josh started. “Care to explain what was going on in there?”

“Well,” Taylor said. “You see. After graduation, Ian kind of asked Bianca to marry him.” While she said this, Josh was taking a sip of coffee, but spit it out as soon as the words left Taylor’s mouth.

“What?” he said, followed by coughs and chokes. Taylor patted him on the back.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“No,” Josh said. “No. I am not okay. I didn't know about any of this. Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Well,” Taylor started. “It is his personal life. Ian has a choice what to tell you and what not to tell you.”

“He’s my best friend,” Josh said. “He’s never not told me anything.”

“He doesn’t have to tell you everything,” Taylor simply said. “He has a personal life, too, you know.”

“I know this,” Josh said in a quieter voice. Then, in a much louder voice, he said again, “But why didn’t he tell me?”

“Quiet your voice,” Taylor said. “People are staring.” And people were, indeed, staring. Josh got quieter and sat back down. Taylor hadn't even noticed him stand up in the first place. “That’s not all,” Taylor said. “I sort of, kind of, maybe, in a way helped him with it.” She said this slowly, not knowing what Josh was going to do. He did just as she suspected. Made people start staring again.

“You have got to be kidding me!” he yelled, back on his feet. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you were never around,” Taylor said after a small moment of silence, her head bowed.

Josh softened his expression. He sat back down beside her. “Look,” he said. Taylor looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry.” He hugged her. After their embrace, she looked up and into his eyes.

His gorgeous, green eyes, Taylor thought. All the years she had liked him. She dropped hints every second she got. How jealous she was when he took Samantha Bird to Junior Prom and not her. How he had left her to go with Roy Pirreche, football linebacker. How Roy had stood her up and she had never even gotten to go to Prom because of it. But he was there for her afterwards, wasn’t he? Had he not left the Prom early and visit her home because he was worried that she wasn't there? Had he not given Roy a bloody nose and gotten a black eye, a fat lip, and had gotten suspended for two weeks because of it? He was always there for her.

But what Taylor didn’t know, was that Josh thought the exact same thing she thought of him. He loved her piercing, blue eyes. Her long, wavy, black hair that, for some reason unknown to him, she always left in a ponytail. She had to know how he felt about her after the Prom incident, right? Or did she just think getting a black eye, a fat lip, and getting suspended for her was just a friendly gesture? How he hoped not. How he wished for her to see just what he thought. And how he wished for her to think the same as he did.