taylor and austin were laying in bed together. they were at austin's house, taylor basically grew up in this house. taylor loved simple hang out times like this with austin, it made her feel so loved and appreciated even if they were just laying in bed.
"oh! look at this one." austin spoke as she turned her phone towards taylor. austin laughed as taylor screwed up her face, "no ma'am." taylor mumbled, widening her eyes to show how she had no interest in the boys she was showing her.
austin groaned, "tay. i've shown you around like ten guys and you think they're all ugly? bitch what? they're sooo fine." austin complained.
taylor held a grin on her face, "bitch that's not my type." she replied hastily. austin playfully rolled her eyes and raised her eyebrows, "okay, then what is?" she asked.
"npc white boys."
austin and taylor stared at each other for a few seconds, an amused and confused look on austin's face, and a calm one on taylor's.
austin then erupted into laughter, bending herself in half and laughing while she laid her head on taylor's thigh.
taylor smiled down at her, "it's really not that funny." she added. austin looked up at her before breaking into another fit of laughter, "your face! your face! bitch, stop doing that with your face." she ordered.
taylor smiled even wider, which she didn't think was possible at the time, while she furrowed her eyebrows at her. "i'm not doing anything?"
austin kept laughing until her brother interrupted them. austin's brother was gorgeous to say the least, everyone thought so except austin obviously. everyone including taylor.
taylor used to have a huge crush on baylen. when she went to restaurants with the family, baylen would always get her pickles and extra fries. not because they made her give them to him, but because she knew he wanted them and if he was happy, she was too. she'd skip nintendo Just Dance sessions with austin to play "army" with baylen, she'd scrap off the frosting from a cupcake that was like one your grandma would make, with a fork and give it to baylen, she'd replace his broken crayons with her fresh new ones at restaurants even though she wanted to color and play tic-tac-toe, she'd willingly give him her lunch money for him to buy candy when she was in 4th, she always did nice gestures for him but eventually stopped when she realized he wasn't really returning those gestures back.
those two always had a special connection when they were younger but was cut short by austin because she didn't want them to start dating and for taylor to hangout with him more than her. taylor always thought she was crazy for thinking they'd ever date, but she was slightly flattered by it.
baylen was two years older and he skated, he's always done it for as long as taylor can remember.
austin and taylor met in pre school and became best friends, it's crazy they've stuck together as best friends this long but they just compliment each other so well.
so taylor has a distinct memory of coming home from kindergarten with austin to her house. they walked into the house and there baylen was, with his neon yellow and neon orange, plastic skateboard.
he wasn't actually doing any tricks, like the ones he does now. no, he was actually just sitting on it but he's still been doing it, in a way, for a while.
baylen had this really fluffy, dense mess of hair that he made look just so good. he had pearly white teeth and his lips were perfectly lined and sized for his face. his eyes were brown pools of chocolate with hints of blue randomly placed around. his face was thin but not so much he looked sick, he looked good. his body was perfectly sculpted, it was hard to keep your eyes off him. even his eyebrows were perfect.
and his voice, taylor would always imagine when she was in 5th grade of waking up to him next to her once they get married. him talking in his sleepy voice basically had her drooling in these day dreams.
she stopped obsessing over baylen once 7th grade came around, so not too long ago for the teenager. but, seeing him in public spaces or places she wouldn't expect to spot him, always made her heart fly out of her body.
they'd talk ever so often, normally picking up the conversations really quickly. it was easy talking to baylen, and for him, it was easy talking to taylor.
but she was 14 in 8th grade and he was 15, turning 16 soon, as a sophomore. and also he was her best friend's brother, and she had a massive crush on nelson neumann that she tried to keep to herself. not talk about it, not think about it.
she really, really liked him, and she knew it too, but she'd always deny it. being scared of messing up whatever they had going on.
at the sight of baylen, taylor slowly lowered her arms. trying to act slightly normal even though she's already brought out her "weird" side around him many times.
i mean how can she not? he's basically a brother to her.
baylen grinned as he watched his sister and his former childhood best friend laugh together, "what are y'all laughing about?" he asked, walking into the room and plopping down onto the bed next to taylor.
baylen always knew taylor had a crush on him, it was obvious. he even heard her admit it once when the two girls thought he couldn't hear them.
taylor tensed up as she felt him sit down. they made brief eye contact, making baylen grin at her. taylor shot her eyes back to austin, giving her a look to make her reply instead of herself.
"so we're showing each other all these guys we think are hot right?" baylen nodded along to her story as she explained it. austin pointed at her phone as she continued, "okay so i showed this girl like 20 photos of guys," austin got interrupted by taylor. "10."
"what?"
"it was ten photos, not 20." taylor corrected her as she slightly smiled. austin started laughing, "shut up." she spoke, pushing taylor and making her fall to the ground.
taylor erupted into laughter before austin got down on top of her and began tickling her sides. baylen laughed as he watched the two girls.
"okay! okay! stop, stop." taylor slightly shouted. baylen spoke up, "tay, don't yell." he joked, grinning at her as she propped herself back onto her elbows before fully sitting up against the wall in austin's room.
the eye contact was special, it was obvious to everyone in the room. there was tension between the two but taylor decided to break it, thinking about nelson.
she kicked his ankle, "oh shut up le." she retorted. he slightly yelped, hastily removing his hands from his hoodie pocket to his ankle.
he then looked at taylor and raised his eyebrows, "le? god, you haven't called me that in years." he mumbled.
"i know you love and miss it." taylor smiled in a bragging way. baylen scoffed sarcastically before shrugging, "eh, can't say i do." he teased.
taylor rolled her eyes as she smiled. "okay, uh, anyways," austin began, slightly thrown off by the sudden flirting and teasing they were back at that they haven't done since the last time they talked, like fully talked which was around months ago.
"can i continue?" austin asked, mainly directing the questions towards baylen. he grinned and glanced at taylor before nodding, "please do." he said in a weird voice that made taylor have to hold back a laugh.
"okay, so i showed her 10 photos," she shot a look at taylor as she did so, making taylor slightly laugh. "i haven't heard you laugh in a while. like i did a minute ago but i mean that it's been such a long time since we've talked." baylen spoke up randomly.
taylor focused her attention from taylor to baylen, "you just don't hear it much anymore because you're really not as funny as you used to be. so i've just been avoiding you." she joked.
baylen scoffed, "what? no. you laughed at a joke i made at the dinner table like two weeks ago tay."
"i was laughing at the face austin was making." she quickly made an excuse for because she did in fact laugh at his joke. it was funny, baylen's very funny. taylor thought so anyways but of course she did.
austin cleared her throat in baylen's face, "shut the fuck up and let me finish my story." she spoke, doing a clearing of her throat between every word.
taylor was amused and slightly smiled before nodding and turning her full attention to her best friend.
"and she thought they were all ugly, but they're not. oh my god, i'd let them do absolutely anything to me and i'd be happy about it." she continued.
baylen gave her a weird look, "i'm gonna pretend i didn't hear you say that."
"want to see them?" austin asked, pulling out her phone. "um, sure?" he replied, shooting taylor a slightly weirded out look.
austin pulled up the photos and scrolled through them to show her brother. baylen nodded at ones he approved and shook his head at ones he didn't. "yeah, tay, you're pretty weird. if i was you, i would be on austin's side on this."
taylor furrowed her eyebrows, "what? absolutely not." she replied. "well what's your type then?" he asked.
"npc white boys."
austin and baylen laughed in unison. "guys, it's really not that funny. that's my type." she shrugged as they continued to laugh.
once they calmed down, baylen shot her a question. "like who?"
baylen was slightly hopeful he'd say her. he didn't exactly know what a "npc white boy" was but he was white.
baylen always liked taylor back, she never knew it though. not a single person did besides himself. the reason he never returned her nice gestures when they were younger was because he didn't want to be made fun of by his friends, but he doesn't really care about that anymore.
his crush never went away. in fact, it grew stronger over time and he truly believed it was at its peak now. all he thought about was taylor. he saw her in every little thing and he was slightly weirded out by it.
she was in 8th, he was a sophomore. they're only about one year and a half year apart in age, but no one actually would think about that besides the two of them.
"nelson neumann is this girls type. to a tea!" austin replied for her. taylor pressed her teeth firmly together, she really liked nelson but baylen always held a place in her heart.
she was just planning to say, "eh, just some people." but austin said what she said and taylor was honestly fine with it. baylen would find out about them soon enough, she was sure of it.
to austin, it looked like baylen's face slightly dropped at nelson's name but he quickly brought it back up again.
"oh nelson? yeah i've seen stuff about him, well actually the two of you, on instagram and tiktok. it's kinda weird seeing your face on big platforms." he slightly laughed.
"yeah, we're talking. or maybe we're just friends, i'm not even sure." she replied, slightly laughing too.
"they made out just a few nights ago." austin mentioned, smiling. taylor slowly nodded her head, "yeah." she quietly agreed to the events of a few nights ago.
"oh," baylen mumbled but quickly asked another question, not wanting to seem disappointed. "how was it?" he asked, plastering a grin on his face.
"great."
harlan speaks 🗣
hey so i lost my phone for a few days but i just got it now so i'm gonna bless y'all w some updates!
but sorry about this chapter and taylor basically gushing over baylen the whole time but he comes into the story wayyyy later because i've already decided how i want to end this book, but it won't be ending in a while btw.
i just wanted to introduce him so when he's brought up again y'all will know who he is.
and idk why but i hate this chapter sm and the next one, it js feels like my writing in it is so bad like i swear, the more i write for a book, the worse it gets 💀 i hate it
2121 word counttt 😛
okay byeee