Kaylor: The Timeline

Chapter 14.2

"Karlie, go," Taylor says, prompting Karlie to begin her next drawing, sounding as though she knows exactly what Karlie is currently up to.

"Okay, okay," Karlie laughs, before beginning her third drawing.

Over the course of the next few minutes, Karlie draws a bicycle, a cat, a house, a birthday cake, a guitar, and Taylor herself. There are times when Taylor and her playfully bicker, especially when Taylor feels as though Karlie's lack of artistic ability really limits her own chances of guessing correctly.

Soon, Karlie is lightly dragging the tips of her fingers along Taylor's back slowly, in no particular pattern at all, raising goosebumps on her flesh every now and again. Taylor doesn't prompt Karlie to make an attempt at yet another drawing, so Karlie continues with her random doodling, hoping it is a sign that Taylor is drifting off to sleep.

Karlie does her best to push memories of Kristine doing just this to her, on nights when she couldn't sleep and chose to sneak into her older sister's bedroom when she thought her parents wouldn't catch her. They never wanted the girls to be up late talking when they were kids, but there were some nights Karlie couldn't help but seek out her older sister, such as the last night of summer before her first day of first grade. She remembers being incredibly nervous, and sneaking out of her bedroom, and bringing her night light along because Kristine had decided she was far too old to have a nightlight in her own bedroom at that point. She quietly slid across the hardwood hallway floor in socks back at her Saint Louis childhood home, not wanting the floorboards to creak and alert her parents downstairs that a daughter was up and roaming the second floor. When she got to Kristine's bedroom, she plugged in her nightlight and crawled into the twin bed that seemed just the perfect size for the two of them back then. Kristine told her not to worry, first grade wasn't all that different from kindergarten after all, except you only got to play with toys at the very end of the day. And besides, they were going to be attending the same school now. If anything went wrong, Kristine would be nearby. That was when Kristine first taught Karlie this game, and it was the first of many times in her early elementary school years that Karlie would fall asleep playing it. Only a few years later, there were many nights that she shared with Kimby and Kariann, in the opposite role. And many years later, even though it's not a game her and Kristine have ever considered playing at all recently, Kristine was still the protective and guiding older sister who Karlie has always turned to in times of need. As she thinks of all this, and then thinks of the feelings she has for her on this particular day with Taylor beside her, tears come to her eyes, just when she realizes Taylor has drifted away to sleep.

This sucks.

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The very last thing Taylor had wanted to do upon waking up from her nap was leave the bedroom, her and Karlie's little sanctuary away from the rest of the family. But there was no way Taylor was going to tell that to Karlie, however. She was the one who insisted they stayed here after all.

She lied to Karlie, saying that she was fine to go downstairs, but Taylor was lucky enough to have a girlfriend who knew full well that Taylor needed to be dragged along quickly to the backyard, minimizing the chances of having to deal with confrontations and conversations she was currently ill prepared for.

So now they stood outside, barefoot, in the green summer grass, with the twins and the boys. Kristine and Tracy, the two people who Taylor unfortunately dreads being near so badly right now that she breaks into a sweat just thinking about it, aren't coming down here to join them any time soon.

"Okay, everyone get in a circle," Kimby instructs. "Stay standing, but spread your legs far enough apart to touch the people's feet on each side of you."