The girls ended up eating their meals in a very awkward silence, both occasionally stealing glances at the other, wondering where everything went wrong. Taylor was mostly picking at her sandwich, not really eating it, and looking anywhere but at Karlie.
She wasn't really sure what to do or how to act right now. After their initial easy back and forth, Taylor became extremely nervous and didn't want to say the wrong thing in case she scared Karlie off. She felt like she had completely ruined the mood and she didn't know how to approach it. She felt like no matter what she did, it wouldn't be enough.
Karlie was trying to keep the conversation going, although Taylor for the life of her couldn't understand why. After her failed attempt to talk about herself, Taylor was sure Karlie was waiting for any excuse to bolt. She had pretty much shut herself down and pulled back into her shell.
She didn't want to mess things up any more than she already had, so Taylor simply chose not to say anything. Maybe she could get lucky and manage to salvage a friendship or something if she played her cards right, although that was looking further out of reach.
Karlie just sat across from the girl feeling absolutely helpless. She could see how closed off Taylor had become but she couldn't figure out why; things seemed to be going so well. She tried several times to keep the conversation flowing, but after not getting much response from the blue eyed girl, she realized it was a one sided effort; unfortunately something Karlie was very used to.
This was not at all how Karlie thought this day was going to go. She tried to rack her brain, wondering if maybe she said or did something that made Taylor close herself off. Karlie ran through their earlier conversation, but nothing came to mind.
Taylor's eyes met Karlie's briefly before the girl looked back down. Karlie could see the sadness and fear in her eyes. She looked so sad and defeated; it was heartbreaking to look at. Oddly enough, it was then that Karlie realized what went wrong.
She recalled the night she first met Taylor. The girl was sitting by herself, away from her friends. Karlie walked over there and tried to talk to her. Taylor was shy and quiet and kept diverting her attention from Karlie. It took a lot of flirting and cheesy pick up lines to even get a reaction from the girl.
Karlie wondered if she should try that approach again, hoping that might bring Taylor out of her shell. Something told her that it wouldn't be enough. Maybe it was the look of utter despair on Taylor's face, or her slouched and defeated posture.
She remembered Lily telling her that Taylor had recently been through a pretty rough break up. Karlie hadn't really seen it affect Taylor much, but she remembered how thankful Lily was and how she kept talking about how different Taylor was around her.
Karlie wanted more than anything to see the girl with that beautiful heart stopping smile. She would give anything just to hear her laugh or see those blue eyes light up like she had seen a few times before. So she decided to change her strategy, hoping it would work.
The waiter happened to come over and dropped off their check. He was staring at Taylor again, making Karlie more than a little upset by this point. Not only did she not like him blatantly checking Taylor out, but anyone with half a brain could see the girl was clearly not in a good mood and this guy was just drooling over her. It was just disrespectful.
Karlie grabbed the bill and paid, noticing the guy had put his number in there. Karlie scoffed and pulled her money out of her wallet before handing the bill back to the waiter. He didn't seem to notice as he was still ogling at Taylor. Karlie cleared her throat, causing both Taylor and the waiter to look at her before she practically shoved the bill into the guy's hands. Karlie glared at him as he walked away.
