Lost In A Memory (A Taylor Lautner Story)

Don't Kiss With Your Eyes Open!

Chapter 18- Don’t Kiss With Your Eyes Open!

            Six months. Six months had passed since Taylor had left. And for the life of me, I’d never really gotten over it.  It took a couple of months before the tears stopped, three more months before I could look at guys the same way, and two more days for me to get a boyfriend. Rob was nice to me…He had been one of my first new friends in high school, and I had grown to care about him. 

            It was three months into my freshman year of high school, and I had adjusted well. I had a few new friends; Olivia had definitely grown to be my best friend in the world, along with Casey. We were inseparable, as far as friends went. They approved of my relationship with Rob, but of course, why wouldn’t they? He’s so cute, they said. He’s so charming, they said.

            He’s not Taylor, I said.

            They looked at me with piercing eyes. You’re crazy, they said. He’s better, they said, their eyes never leaving his butt as we flocked down the hall.

            He was very far from Taylor. He didn’t kiss me the same way Taylor did. He didn’t skip football practice to hang out with me. He didn’t come over and get me into a lot of trouble and we definitely didn’t have a ‘place’.

            I can do nothing now but laugh and think how lucky I am. How cursed I am. How happy, yet how empty I am. And they approve. They do not understand. They are my friends, yet they don’t get me. No matter, I try to tell myself everyday. You mind your business, they’ll mind theirs.  But it does me no good.

            I jumped out of my reverie when Rob put his arms around my waist, smiling. “Something going on?” He leaned in quietly and kissed my cheek. It still felt weird when he kissed me. And this time, surprisingly, it had nothing to do with Taylor.

            It felt like my brother was kissing me. Rob had been my friend since day one of high school. Granted, it had only been three months, and it had only been a few weeks since we started dating. But I found it weird that it seemed like we were still only friends. The ‘friend zone’ was a tough nut to crack, so to speak.

            “Nah, nothing.” I said, pulling my Algebra book out of my locker and turned around in his arms. “Just thinking.”

            “That’s not bad. It’s healthy to think.”

            “You know, for a straight C student, you sure are poetic sometimes.”

            “For a straight A student, you sure are a pain in my rear sometimes.” He countered. I smiled.

            “You better know it.” I turned to walk down the hall, Rob taking my hand as usual. It still managed to feel like holding my father’s hand while crossing a buy street (that was, weird, uncomfortable, annoying). Stupid ‘friend zone’. It cursed the couples it devoured. Then I thought: Maybe it wasn’t the ‘friend zone’. Maybe it was me.

            We got to my Algebra class in record time, having a minute or two to chat, since Rob’s class was right around the corner. I stopped just past the door and put my hands around his waist. “You know how much I like you, right?” He said, looking into my eyes.

            “Sure I do.” I said questionably, and with sudden honesty, I really didn’t know how much he liked me. But I was pretty sure I didn’t like him nearly as much, and for that I was ashamed.

            “How much?” He asked, his eyes never leaving mine.

            “More than… more than you like Jeremy.” I said.