Sparks Fly: A Kaylor Love Story

Chapter 18: The Party

Taylor sat in Selena's car outside the party. On the way there, she'd outlined her plan to Selena. She was going to finally tell Karlie how she felt.

"Are you sure you want to do this here? In front of so many people? In front of Toni?" Selena asked before they went in. Taylor had considered that perhaps this wasn't the best way to handle this, but that was her mind talking. She needed to just do what felt right, and this felt right. She'd waited too long and she didn't want to wait any longer.

"I'm not sure I want to do it at all, but you said it yourself: do what feels right. This feels right until I start overthinking." Taylor replied. Selena shrugged and the two of them got out of the car and walked into the party.

It was full of people. Taylor recognized a lot of the faces from school, but couldn't put names to the faces. At that moment she was only concerned with finding one person: Karlie.

She pushed through the crowded room, her mind buzzing with the things she was going to say to Karlie. She wandered around for about 5 minutes with no sight of Karlie. Then, all of a sudden, she felt a hand grab hold of her arm from amidst the sea of people and pull her away. In a moment, she was in the kitchen, confronted by Toni.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Toni demanded angrily.

"I'm just here for the party..." Taylor replied nervously

"Are you sure you aren't here for Karlie?" Toni asked.

Of course, Taylor was there for Karlie, but Toni had no way of knowing that.

"W-what do you mean?" Taylor responded, her voice shaking.

"She told me about your history together, that you kissed her and then freaked out and told her you only wanted to be friends." Toni said. "Do you really think you deserve her after screwing with her feelings like that?"

"What are you talking about?" Taylor asked.

"You're all she ever talks about." Toni's voice began to shake as she spoke. "You mean so much to her, but she could never mean as much to you as she does to me." Tears began to fall from Toni's eyes, and for just a moment Taylor felt bad for her. She clearly cared for Karlie a lot.

In that moment, Taylor considered leaving the party, going home, and just letting things continue as they were. Toni was right. Taylor had screwed with Karlie's feelings, and Karlie probably deserved better.

But Toni wasn't better. Karlie had barely smiled since they'd been together. Six little words that Toni had said began to echo in Taylor's mind: "You're all she ever talks about." Could it be that Karlie still had feelings for Taylor? If that was the case, then she was only with Toni because she didn't think Taylor felt the same. Of course, it was Taylor's fault that Karlie though that. At every turn, when presented with the opportunity to tell Karlie how she'd felt, she'd run away and let things continue as they were.

But she wasn't going to run this time. She was going to see it through this time.

And besides, she wasn't stealing Karlie from Toni or anything as dramatic as that. She was simply going to tell Karlie how she felt, and if Karlie chose to end things with Toni in favour of Taylor then, well, that was Karlie's choice.

Taylor shook her head and walked away from Toni, back into the party. Toni followed. Taylor looked back just in time to see Karlie approaching her smiling. Toni stood between the two of them, and tried to intercept Karlie with a hug. Karlie hugged back, but quickly attempted to continue towards Taylor. Toni made an attempt to stop her, but Karlie got away and kept walking.

Karlie and Taylor stood facing one another, both of them smiling.

"Hey." Karlie said.

"Hey." Taylor parroted back.

It was now or never. Words flooded Taylor's mind, words that she wanted to say to Karlie. She wanted to pour out declarations of undying love. She wanted to tell Karlie exactly how beautiful she thought she was. She opened her mouth so that it could all flood out, every single word.

But nothing happened.

For a moment, Taylor just stood there in silence, her mouth slightly open. Had she really come this far, only to find that the words wouldn't come?

Just then, she had a bright idea. She remembered something she'd brought with her, that was perfect for this moment. She reached into her purse and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. She unfolded it and showed it to Karlie. On the paper were three simple words:

'I love you'

Karlie looked shocked for a moment, but then began to smile. She reached into her purse as well, and Taylor's heart began to pound as Karlie took out a similar folded piece of paper. She unfolded hers and showed it to Taylor. On it were the same three words:

'I love you'

For a split second they just stared at each other smiling. Then they moved towards one another and began to kiss. It felt so perfect, so right, and Taylor felt happier in that moment than she'd ever been before. This was how the story was supposed to end.

And in that moment she experienced something she'd never experienced with anyone she'd dated, something she'd been waiting for her whole life. In that moment, she saw sparks fly.

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THE END