Sparks Fly: A Kaylor Love Story

Chapter 2: Awkward Conversations

After English, Taylor didn't see Karlie again until after school. She was walking home with her earbuds in when she saw the tall, blonde girl walking ahead of her in the same direction. She began to feel a fluttering in her stomach.

"Why the hell does she make me so nervous?" Taylor whispered to herself. In spite of the anxiety induced by Karlie, Taylor felt the urge to try to catch up with her and introduce herself. But why did she feel that urge? She guessed it was out of a sense of social obligation. Karlie was new, and they sat next to each other in English. Taylor felt like they ought to at least be acquainted, if not friends.

Taylor jogged to where Karlie was and tapped on her shoulder, instantly regretting doing something so familiar to get the attention of someone she'd never actually spoken to. Karlie turned to look at Taylor. Taylor could feel herself blushing from slight embarrassment as she realized she had no idea what to say. She decided to wing it.

"Uh... Karlie, right? We're in the same English class." Taylor stuck her hand out for Karlie to shake. She was mortified at how awkward she felt like she was being. "I'm Taylor by the way."

Karlie smiled. "Yeah, I remember" she said, shaking Taylor's hand.

"I just figured" Taylor said sheepishly "that since you're new, you'd probably appreciate someone to talk to, to like show you around and stuff... although it's the end of the day, you've probably met people already."

"Actually no" Karlie said with a chuckle "you're the first person who's talked to me, apart from the teachers."

"Oh... well then, that works I guess." Taylor said, trying to smile, despite the mounting realization of how badly she was failing in her attempt to talk to Karlie.

Karlie pointed to the earbuds in Taylor's hand. "What are you listening to?" she asked.

"Fall Out Boy" Taylor replied "Do you like them?"

Karlie nodded. "I really like that song Grand Theft Autumn."

Taylor smiled. It was a genuine and relaxed smile this time.

"That's the song I'm listening to right now." She told Karlie "It's one of my favourites too."

"Then allow me to congratulate you on your fantastic taste in music Taylor." Karlie said. Taylor smiled at her.

"Hey, so are you walking in the same direction as me?" Taylor asked.

"I guess, unless you went out of your way to talk to me." Karlie said with a cheeky smirk.

"No, I just saw you when I was walking and thought I should talk to you." Taylor said. She was blushing a little. "Why am I blushing?" she thought to herself. The nervousness came flooding back.

"Wanna walk together?" Karlie asked.

"Sure." Taylor said, and the two of them started walking.

"So whereabouts do you live?" Taylor asked after a few moments of silence.

"My parents and I just moved into a house on Oak Street." Karlie replied.

"Oh, I live on Oak Street." Taylor said, then a realization dawned on her. "I think you might have moved in next door to me."

"Oh yeah?" Karlie said, looking at Taylor. "I guess that makes us a geographically ideal match to be friends."

Taylor looked at her.

"Sorry" Karlie said, looking down "that was a weird thing to say."

Taylor's nervousness began to subside again and she smiled.

"Well at least I can amuse you" Karlie said "Maybe there's hope for a friendship between us after all."

The two of them laughed. They spent the rest of the walk talking about music.

As it turned out, Taylor was correct. Karlie's family had indeed moved in next door. Karlie seemed nice, and they seemed to have a lot of the same taste in music. Maybe they could be friends. "I'll have to get over this weird nervousness I have around her though." she thought.

She was laying on her bed when her phone rang. It was Selena. Selena always rang her after school.

"Hey, what's up?" Taylor answered.

"Not much" Selena replied "just doing homework."

"This early in the afternoon?" Taylor asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, nothing better to do." Selena said, sighing.

"so some weird shit happened to me today." Taylor said. As soon as she did the fluttering in her stomach made a comeback. "Jeez" she thought, "even talking about Karlie makes me nervous."

"Oh yeah?" Selena responded.

"Yeah, you know that new girl in English? The one who sat next to me?" Taylor asked.

"Karlie?" Selena replied. "What about her?"

Taylor hesitated. This was going to sound dumb to Selena.

"I ran into her while walking home, and I think we sort of became friends..." Taylor said.

"A friendly person like you made friends with someone? No way. That is utterly surreal." Selena said sarcastically.

"That's not the weird part." Taylor said "What's weird is that I got really nervous talking to her, and my attempt to make conversation was an epic fail."

"That actually is weird." Selena said "You're always really good with people."

"I know. And then it turns out she lives next door to me, so I'm hoping I'm just having an off-day, otherwise shit could get awkward." Taylor said.

She stood up and absent-mindedly looked out her bedroom window. The window looked out at Karlie's house. In fact, it looked directly into an upstairs bedroom in Karlie's house. And in the bedroom, Taylor saw a familiar face. Nervousness began to build inside her. Her window and Karlie's window directly faced one another. She really hoped the weirdness would go away, because it seemed she couldn't even avoid Karlie in her own bedroom.