Fly With Me

It was mid-May in New York, and Josh and Ian had gone home months ago. Josh and Ian kept in contact with Bianca and Taylor. Josh had a new girlfriend, to the dismay of Taylor. Her name was Jessica Gardner. Josh and Ian were coming by in a few weeks for Bianca’s birthday. And Josh was bringing his girlfriend. Jessica was an Orthodontist. They had been dating now for a month.

To the dismay of Josh, Taylor had found someone, also. His name was Justin Austin. He taught at Grace Athena High School with Bianca. They met through Bianca and thanked her. Justin taught eleventh grade Spanish. They had been dating for about three weeks.

Josh and Taylor were both upset when they told each other about their beaus. They both liked each other, but never told the other, for fear of rejection.

Neither Ian nor Bianca found “the right person”, yet. That’s what they claimed, anyway. Josh and Taylor both just thought they liked each other still, and didn’t want to date anyone else. Why Bianca rejected Ian’s proposal, they had no idea.

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Bianca! Happy birthday to you!” Everyone had just gotten finished singing to Bianca. Everyone meaning Taylor, Josh, Jessica, Justin, Ian, Morgan and Brandon Pieper, Bianca’s parents, Katie Ross, Bianca’s sister, Katie’s husband, Ben, Taylor’s parents, Austin and Kelly, Taylor’s sister, Hannah Webster, Hannah’s husband, Christian, Taylor’s brother, Cody, Cody’s wife, Amy, and Ryan’s and Amy’s children, Leah, who was five, and Megan, who was seven.

Bianca cut the chocolate cake, and offered everyone a piece, in which Taylor refused.
“Come on,” Kelly told her youngest child. “You’re nothing but skin and bones.”

“No thanks, Mom,” Taylor told her. “I’m not very hungry.” Kelly left her youngest daughter and went over to her grandchildren, Leah and Megan.

“She’s right, you know.” Taylor turned around to see Justin.

“Hey, Justin,” Taylor said.

“Hey,” he replied. There was an awkward silence.

The silence ended when Bianca yelled from the kitchen, “Justin! Can you come help me, please?”

“Coming,” he called. With one more glance to Taylor, he walked away. Crap, Taylor thought. She never had any awkward silences with Josh. If only he could see how much she liked him.

“Hey, Taylor,” Josh said, walking up to her with Jessica. Jessica and Taylor had met before the party started.

“Hi, Taylor,” Jessica said.

“Hi, Josh. Jessica.” Taylor looked at each one as she said their name. “Having fun?”

“Actually,” Josh said. “We were just about to leave. We need to get back to the hotel.”

“Oh,” Taylor said. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Josh said. “Later.” And they left.

Suddenly, there was a scream, and a crash from the kitchen. Everyone ran to the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. They looked in the see Bianca sitting up on the floor rubbing her forehead. She was sitting on Justin, who was lying down. Taylor walked over to them.

“Are you okay?” she asked Bianca.

“Yeah,” she said.

“What happened,” Taylor asked them.

“Well,” Bianca started. Justin cut her off, though.

“She’s a klutz,” he said with a bit of laughter in his voice. “She said she needed a pan from the top shelf. I offered to get it. Well, you know how stubborn she can be. She decided to get it herself. She climbed on the cabinet. Well, she got it, only to lose her balance, and fall on top of me.”

“What about your head?” Taylor asked Bianca, who was still rubbing at a red spot on her forehead.

“Well,” started Bianca. “Just before I fell, the pan I was reaching for sort of fell off the shelf.”

“And?” Taylor said.

“And it collided with my head,” Bianca said.

By this time, Taylor was trying to keep down a laugh. She looked at Bianca’s parents, Morgan and Brandon, and said, “I am so sorry,” while shaking her head.

“For what, dear?” Morgan asked.

“This is your daughter,” said Taylor.

“Hey!” Bianca said. “That was rude.” Taylor just stared at her. Bianca sighed and said, “Nevermind.”

A few days went by, and Josh and Taylor hadn’t spoken to each other. Ian and Bianca, though, talked to each other all the time. One the phone. Through the computer. Letters. If there was a way they could talk to each other, they did.

Taylor was in the living room watching television while Bianca was in her room. Talking to Ian, no doubt, Taylor thought. She thought it was so lucky for Bianca to have someone she really liked. Of course, Taylor had Justin. But she didn’t think it was going anywhere. She was just waiting for him to break it off with her.

At the thought, her phone buzzed beside her. “Hello?” she answered without looking at who it was.

“Hey, Taylor,” she heard the person on the other end of the phone say.

“Oh,” she said. “Hey, Justin,” Taylor replied. She was trying her best to be happy with him, but she didn’t think it was going to last too long.

“So,” Justin started. “How would you like to go out to dinner tonight? I’ve gotten reservations at a really nice restaurant.”

“Um,” Taylor said, hesitating. “Sure. I’d love to.”

“It’s formal. So dress nice.”

“Will do. What time?”

“I’m picking you up around seven.”

“Okay. See you then.”

“All right. I love you.”

Taylor wasn’t prepared for this. “Okay,” she said. “Well, bye.” And she hung up. She wasn’t ready. They’d only been dating for a month and a half. And he’s already saying he loves me, Taylor thought. Things are moving way too fast. But Taylor decided to go on the date anyway.

An hour later, Taylor’s hair was strait, but put into the ponytail she wore everyday. She was dressed in a nice, blue dress with heels.

“So,” Taylor said, coming into the living room. “How do I look?”

“You look amazing,” Bianca said. “I wish I had someone to get dressed up for.”

“You would if you had just accepted Ian’s proposal,” Taylor said in a sing-song voice.

“How many times are we going to go over this?” Bianca asked. “I didn’t accept it because I wasn’t ready. I was too young.”

“Well,” Taylor started. “What about now? Why don’t you ask him?”

“What?” Bianca said. “I couldn’t. We just met back up a few months ago after not seeing each other for, what, three years? I just don’t think I can do that.”

“Do you love him?” Taylor asked. But she never got an answer, because someone knocked on the door. Taylor went over and opened it.

“Hey,” Justin said. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Taylor answered. “I’m ready.” She turned her attention back towards Bianca. “Think about it. For me. Please.” With that, Taylor and Justin went through the door to begin their date.