Taylor

Taylor III, part III

Daniel James

That was a little weird, but it felt really nice. Someone actually liked my story enough to approach me; that was really flattering. She was cute, too. Beautiful eyes and really long hair, which I like. But hey, none of that matters. I only have eyes for Taylor, and she knows it. I'd like to see her, but she's in classes from dawn till dusk on Mondays. I won't be seeing her today. I'm moving my way through the hall to the stairs. I'm on the fourth floor, but my coach tells us to take the stairs whenever possible. Small amounts of exercise whenever we can get it...kill me. So I walk to the top of the stairs and start trotting down at a brisk speed.

On the lobby level, I stop for a drink from the vending machine and proceed to make my way through the doors to the courtyard, headed to my truck. There's a staircase off to the side of the building that leads down a grassy hill to the parking lot. More stairs, yippee. I start to walk down them. My truck is parked right at the bottom. And I make it to the door of my truck before I stop and reach into my pocket. I don't have anything to do for a few hours. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing Taylor today. And I have a prospective new friend. A friend who likes my writing. That cute four-eyed girl...might be available... Let me send her a quick text.

"Hey, Jessa?"

"hi hi"

"Hey, I have a long break between classes"

"o rly? Me 2"

"How about we meet up and trade ideas? I'll meet you in the student center"

"sounds gud, ill meet u there"

I know it was really quick, but what else am I going to do? Pretend to be into manga and anime with the Tokyo Club? Nah, not my thing. Go home and sit there watching tv for hours? I'd rather not, I can do more constructive things. I tuck my keys away and head back up these god-forsaken stairs. I have a notebook and pen with me. This midterm should be an interesting breeze if we collaborate.

In five minutes, I'm stepping through the front doors of the student center. It smells like book pages and Subway sandwiches. That's not a bad mix, actually. I kind of like it. I take a seat on a nearby planter and take out my phone. The sky is blue and the air is warm today. Damn shame I won't see my lady, so I'll just let her know I'm thinking about her.

"Hey, baby."

No response comes for a long time. Eh, it's fine. I'm sure she'll respond later. I tuck the phone away and look around, trying to brainstorm ideas for interesting stories. That robot chick idea came to me very easily since my brother worked in a call center before. But others? I don't really know. Maybe I'll feed off of Jessa when she gets here. Speaking of which...

Jessa steps through the front door to the student center and walks right up to me.

"Long time no see, stranger," she says smartly.

"Yeah, I just missed you so much, I couldn't stay away," I joke. "Let's go to the lounge. Use one of those tables along the wall."

She nods and we proceed down the hallway and around the corner to the student lounge. I'm already going into my backpack, nervously searching for my notebook and pen. I came up with one good idea and now this girl seems to think I'm actually a good writer.

I came up with just one idea...and she approached me.

I realize by the time that we arrive in the lounge that I've been distracting myself the entire way with paranoid thoughts about our meeting. I've seen Jessa before, she's usually really quiet. She doesn't seem depressed or anything, but she seems like she would rather not talk to people. She's just gotten up and left the room when class was over, or stayed to keep writing notes in her notebook. She's never approached anyone until me. But ugh...I sound like a schizo. Jessa is already seated when I sit down, as she got to the table first and has probably been watching me space out for a minute. I take my seat and pull my notebook out, ready to get to brainstorming.