Caught Up In A Moment [Kaylor]

Chapter 7 - The Almost Kiss

Karlie was nervous.

She had been nervous ever since that night under the lamppost. The dancing, the laughing. The almost kiss.

Her stomach flipped every time she thought about it. The Almost Kiss. It had turned into a whole thing, even just a week later, but it felt like a lifetime ago. Cara had been quick to find out since she noticed Karlie acting strange.

"Babe, you're distracted," she had said. "Almost drove into fuckin' oncoming traffic."

The Almost Kiss. Karlie told Cara about it because she couldn't keep it in, and it wasn't like she was going to tell Josh because nothing happened. And if nothing happened, then he didn't need to know about it. He would just be angry at Taylor, or maybe at her for making Taylor feel like she could kiss her.

Or maybe Karlie just didn't want Josh to know.

She'd made sure to spend as much time with him as possible, visiting him on his breaks every day since The Almost Kiss and calling him between classes. She made sure to remind herself that Josh was hers and that she was Josh's. That there was no reason to worry, nothing that could ever make her doubt her relationship with Josh. She loved him and he loved her. And it was true, they kissed and talked and did more than that.

But when it all came down to it, The Almost Kiss was only The Almost Kiss because Karlie had stepped back. And her initial reason for it was that she couldn't kiss anyone with fresh piercings. Then, and only then, had she remembered Josh. After she saw Taylor's confused look. After she looked down at her lips so close to hers. Josh was the afterthought. The guilty reason she couldn't just kiss Taylor.

So she said fuck it to the rule and kissed Josh as soon as humanly possible. She needed to erase that memory, or at least replace it with a more recent kiss. But, like a terrible girlfriend, she thought about The Almost Kiss while locking lips with Josh. And then she stepped back and gave him the piercing excuse, too.

In her head, though, she thought of Taylor.

Now she sat in the dorm room, waiting for Taylor to come back. Waiting to have a real conversation and not just awkward greetings and small talk and goodnights. She was glad that Taylor had finally replied to her texts after an awkward week of barely seeing her and hardly getting two words in exchange. She glanced down at her phone once more at the pathetic text stream.

Me

Hey, just checking in

You coming back early today or no?

I don't want things to be awkward between us

Me

Taylor I've barely seen you in the past week

I'm not mad at you or anything

Me

Can we just talk?

Me

Taylor please

Selena is worried about you and so am I

You just caught me by surprise that night

I'm sorry

Tay

dont apologize

you didnt do anything wrong

ill be home soon

By complete coincidence, Karlie watched as a new message popped up on the screen.

Tay

im sorry.