Part Four - Taylor Was A Good Girl
Second half
“That was the worst ending in the history of 80's movies,” I stated matter-of-factly, folding my arms and leaning against the wall next to my bed. Jake gaped at me, looking almost personally insulted.
“How can you say that?” he asked as he pressed the rewind button on my remote. In the three weeks that we had known each other, we had become closer more quickly than I had with anyone ever, excluding Bianca. When we discovered the day after the party that we both had an affinity for 80's teen flicks, we quickly made it our “thing” to get together on Friday afternoons well before sundown and watch one or two together. On this particular day, the movie in question was Pretty in Pink, which to this day I still maintain has a horrible ending.
“It was horrible,” I reiterated, brushing my newly straightened hair out of my eyes and Jake continued to stare at me disbelievingly. There were times I seriously thought he was channeling some cheerleader from the 80's with the way he reacted to these movies. He mouthed soundlessly for a few minutes before finally finding the words to articulate what he wanted to say.
“How can you say that?” he asked again. “What was wrong with the ending?”
“Everything,” I stated succinctly. “I just can’t believe she went with that rich guy...what’s his name, Blane? Yeah, I can’t believe she ended up with him instead of Duckie. I mean, come on. Duckie has been her friend for 8 years, he clearly knows her well and loves her, plus he’s funny. And this Blane fellow just waltzes in and we’re supposed to think he’s a better match? I don’t think so. They barely know each other and he has no personality. All he can do is smile shyly and flare his nostrils.”
For a few minutes I thought Jake wasn’t going to respond as just stared at me from where he sat next to me on my bed. I shifted awkwardly waiting for him to say something.
“Why must you always bring these things up?” he finally said, referring to the way I almost always had some criticism to offer at the end of a movie. I shrugged.
“You know what they say. If you put two Jews in a room, you get three opinions,” I offered with a grin.
“Who says that?”
“The ominous ‘they.’ And my mother.”
“Ah. Well, as much as I hate admit it, you have a point. The ending does kind of suck if you look at it that way.”
“Of course I have a point. I always have a point and it is not on the top of my head, thank you.” Jake smirked as I intercepted the cheeky response I knew he would probably come up with. While he was often complimenting me, generally more than I would like, he also had a habit of throwing playful insults at me every now and then. I had quickly learned not to make it too easy for him to do so.
“Damn you,” he sighed. I chuckled in response as the door opened and Bianca sauntered into the room, immediately tossing her backpack onto the floor and falling backwards onto the bed.
“Hey, Bianca,” I greeted her and she grunted, pushing herself up to a sitting position. Bianca had not been in the best mood for the weeks following her argument with Justin. She spent most of her time moping about and feeling sorry for herself, but now she forced a smile onto her face.
“Hey. What are you crazy kids up to?”
“We just finished watching Pretty in Pink,” I told her. She nodded.
“Crappy ending.”
“I know!”
“It’s not that bad!” Jake protested indignantly and Bianca and I just looked at him sadly. “It’s not!”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” I conceded, patting his arm. Jake sighed and shook his head.
“As much as I’d love to stick around and have you make fun of me some more, I’ve gotta go to class.” He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before hopping off the bed and sliding his feet into his shoes. “May I admire you again today?”
“You know, quoting 80's movies seriously threatens your charm,” I lied, laughing and shaking my head. Jake grinned.
“I beg to differ. But seriously, do you want to hang out tomorrow?”
“Can’t. Sabbath,” I replied regretfully. He frowned and nodded.
“Yeah, sorry. I keep forgetting about that.”
“No worries. Bianca forgets too and she’s known me for 15 years.”
“I don’t forget!” Bianca protested. “I just like to harbor false hope that you will.”
“Sure, sure,” I replied with a disbelieving roll of my eyes.
“It’s true!”
“Well, I’ll see you ladies later. Have a good night!” Jake waved to Bianca and I as we both said goodbye and he headed out the door.
“So are you two together yet or what?” Bianca inquired the moment Jake was gone. I felt my turning red against my will as I shook my head quickly.
“No, we’re just friends,” I gave the answer I had given the five million other times she’d asked that question in the past three weeks. Bianca rolled her eyes.
“Not by his choice clearly,” she observed quietly.
I pretended I hadn’t heard her, although I knew she was right. Jake had been very much the gentleman and not once mentioned anything other than friendship since the night we’d met, but I was pretty sure that was only because he sensed that I might not be as receptive as he’d like. It wasn’t that I didn’t like him, but as I’ve already said, I wasn’t used to guys even talking to me and the idea of going out with Jake so soon after I’d met him still sort of freaked me out.
“Shouldn’t you be packing?” I asked in an entirely conspicuous attempt to change the subject. Bianca smirked, sliding off her bed to a standing position on the floor.
“Yeah, probably. You’re so just trying to change the subject.”
“Well, then do it,” I ordered.
“You know what, Taylor?”
“What?”
“You suck.”
“I try.”
Bianca was going home to visit her family for the weekend and I must admit I was looking forward to a very peaceful weekend with the room all to myself. But naturally my hopes were quickly dashed when the telephone woke me from a beautiful dream involving Jake and several different types of cookies early Saturday morning.
“Hello?” I groaned into the receiver after a good two minutes of feeling around on the dresser attempting to find the phone without having to actually open my eyes.
“Taylor?” An uncertain but familiar male voice replied.
“Yeah. Bianca’s not here.” My response was punctuated with a yawn as I realized it was Justin on the other end. He had been calling multiple times every day since he and Bianca had fought, but she had yet to speak with him. I had pretty much stopped answering the phone, but being that I was only half awake, the thought hadn’t occurred to me.
“I know, I...actually, I wanted to talk to you.” That got my attention and I opened my eyes, surprised by this response.
“Why?” I asked skeptically.
“Um...” he hesitated. “I just...I really need to talk to you. Can you meet me for coffee in like an hour?”
“Can’t. Sabbath,” I responded automatically. It was like going to the synagogue and refusing all invites to go out on Saturdays was programmed into me.
“Oh. Okay, that’s fine. I’m sorry for bothering you.” I sighed, throwing my covers off and feeling annoyed at him for sounding so sad and pathetic.
“Where do you want me to meet you?”
***
I pulled my coat close around my body as I hurried down the street towards the coffee shop Justin had asked me to meet him at. I’d had to take the subway and it had arrived late, so I was already ten minutes later than I said I’d be. I spent most of the ride over there wondering what it was he wanted to talk to me about. Justin and I had always been friendly enough with one another, but we’d never been “friends” per se. And this was the first time I could remember ever going anywhere alone with him.
Of course, “alone” with Justin usually meant alone with Justin and a bodyguard, as I was reminded when I approached the coffee shop and saw Justin hidden away in a corner with said bodyguard stationed a few feet away. Shaking the snow out of my hair, I stepped into the coffee shop and strode over to the corner. Justin jumped up and pulled my chair out as I approached. I sat down, thanking him and dismissing a thought about what a sweet gesture that was.
“Snow in March,” I commented gloomily, my Floridian upbringing coming out. “Who does that?” Justin grinned.
“Not used to New York winters yet huh?”
“No,” I confirmed succinctly, shaking my head.
“You’ll adjust,” he assured me with a wink. “So do you want some coffee or something? I’ll pay.”
“No, that’s okay.” There was something about sitting in a coffee shop with my best friend’s sort of boyfriend and having him offer to buy me coffee that felt distinctly odd if not wrong. Justin grimaced.
“Are you sure? I feel bad that I woke you up and took you away from...whatever it is you usually do on the Sabbath and I would really like to make up for it.”
I stared at him blankly. “Why are you like that?” I inquired, sounding more accusatory than I had intended.
“Like what?” he replied defensively.
“So...so eager and...sincere.” I shuddered involuntarily as I clarified.
“I’m sorry.” The defensive tone continued and he sounded anything but sorry. “I didn’t realize sincerity was a bad thing.”
“I’ll have a latte,” I grumbled, ignoring his comment and feeling slightly guilty for my bad mood. I had agreed to come, so I figured I should at least pretend to be nice. The problem was that was something I found incredibly difficult to do with someone who had been a complete ass to my best friend a few weeks earlier.
“Okay, good. John, would you mind?” he requested and the bodyguard went to go order my latte as I sat feeling guilty about him basically waiting on me. I had a tendency in those days to harbor guilt about pretty much anything and everything. It probably wasn’t very good for me, but that never stopped me from doing anything.
There was silence at the table as I sat eyeing the ceiling and twirling my hair around my finger absentmindedly. I was never one to play with my hair, since I hated it, but ever since I’d straightened it my hands seemed continuously drawn to it and I was forever petrified of becoming one of those annoying girls who was always playing with her hair. Which at that particular moment I realized I was and stopped the twirling immediately.
“You look different,” Justin commented finally as I began to wonder why he’d asked me there in the first place. So far he’d done nothing but make small talk.
“Do I?” I punctuated this with my usual indifferent yawn.
“Yeah. Did you change your hair or something?”
“I did.” I nodded slightly and thanked John as he returned with my latte sooner than I’d expected. “Bianca finally convinced me to straighten it.”
“Ah, yeah, that’s it. It looks really nice,” he complimented me with a smile. I took a sip of my latte and ignored the comment as I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“Justin, are you going to tell me why you woke me up and made me come here, or am I just going to have to sit here and try to guess for the next ten hours?” I inquired testily. And of course I immediately felt guilty for the tone of my voice when he grimaced in response.
“Yeah, sorry. Um...well...it’s about Bianca,” he began slowly. No shocker there.
“What about her?” I asked, trying not to sound cold.
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of her for weeks and she won’t return any of my calls.”
“Yes, I know. I answer the phone most of the time, remember? What’s your point?”
“Yeah. I know. Sorry.” He grimaced again, once more inducing my guilt. Justin in particular seemed to have a talent for making me feel guilty. I didn’t like it. “It’s just... I know I was a real dick to her and I want her to know how sorry I am. So, you being her best friend and all, I was hoping...” His voice trailed off and I sighed as I set my latte down on the table and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.
“You were hoping I’d help you win her back?” I finished for him.
“Kind of, yeah.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
“Fine.”
***
“I can’t believe you’ve never been here,” Justin marveled, shelling out some cash to pay for the kosher hot dog I’d just received from a vendor in the middle of Central Park. I shrugged.
“I never really had a reason to come. I always wanted to though,” I confided before taking a bite of my hot dog and trying to match his long strides through the park.
We had spent most of the morning together in the coffee shop discussing different methods of getting Justin and Bianca back together, and when he had mentioned taking her to the Tavern on the Green, I had casually stated that I had never been to Central Park. Upon hearing this, he had immediately taken it upon himself to send John home, take me there and show me what I’d been missing out on as compensation for dragging me out of bed to assist in his love life dilemma. I attempted to protest at first, but then gave up, deciding it might actually be fun. Surprisingly, so far I appeared to be right.
“Mmm, instead of taking B to Tavern on the Green, you should definitely just buy her a hot dog from one of the vendors,” I commented as we strolled through the snow covered park. I was actually enjoying the snow at the moment - it made the place look beautiful. Justin chuckled.
“You think?”
“Definitely. She’d love it. Seriously, though, I think she’d like something like this. A walk in a park. It’s nice and romantic and she is surprisingly quite the sucker for that sort of thing.” It didn’t occur to me when I said this that I had basically just said what we were doing was “nice and romantic,” but I think Justin realized it as he abruptly changed the subject.
“Tell you what,” he began. “You’ve given me a lot of great ideas today, so why don’t we give the Bianca talk a rest and just hang out?”
“Okay,” I agreed slowly. I personally would have felt much more comfortable talking about Bianca than “just hanging out” with Justin. In many ways he was like a brother, but at the same time I wasn’t nearly as comfortable with him as I was with many of my brother’s other friends. Maybe because it had been a while since he’d been around consistently and I didn’t know him as well.
“So how’s life?” he asked and I groaned immediately.
“Don’t start that again,” I grumbled, shaking my head.
“Start what?” he asked, bewildered.
“Trying to find about the inner workings of my mind or whatever.” I rolled my eyes and took a last bite of my hot dog as we continued on our way through the park.
“I’m not!” Justin protested. “I just want to know how you are. Am I not allowed to care about you, Taylor?”
I stopped in my tracks, partly because of what he’d just said and partly because of the beautiful stone archway we’d just approached. “What is this place?” I asked, beginning to walk again and passing under the entrance.
“The Rambles,” he replied as he followed me.
“It’s lovely,” I commented in awe, shivering and suddenly realizing how cold I was.
“You should see it in fall,” Justin told me. “It’s gorgeous with the leaves everywhere. I used to bring my old girlfriend here a couple of years ago.”
“I don’t blame you.” I suddenly realized how much of what we’d said to each other since we’d been in the park pertained to how romantic it was and began to feel a ridiculous guilt because of it. I really could feel guilty about anything I decided as I walked up onto a breathtaking rustic bridge ahead of us. Snow powdered trees loomed overhead as the icy water of the river continued to rush underneath. I leaned over the edge as Justin joined me and we both watched the water silently.
“So why do you hate me so much, Taylor?” Justin’s soft voice broke the silence and I frowned, refusing to look at him.
“What a stupid question. I don’t hate you,” I replied.
“It’s not a stupid question,” he contradicted me. “When you were younger we always got along but ever since Bianca and I started...” He paused. “That’s it, isn’t it? You hate me for dating Bianca?” I shook my head and wandered over to the other side of the bridge, annoyed when he followed.
“If I hated you for dating Bianca, why would I be helping you win her back?” I pointed out, hoping to get him off my back.
“I don’t know.” To my relief, he was silent again at least for a minute or two, but then he spoke once more, a smile spreading over his face. “Do you remember when you were 11 and I was 13 and you wrote me that letter telling me you liked me?”
“Oi vey,” I lamented, covering my face with my hands as it turned bright red. I had done all in my power to forget that I’d ever written that letter, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen. “Okay, yeah. Now I hate you.”
“Sorry,” Justin apologized with a laugh.
“Yeah, laughing doesn’t help the whole apology thing, Justin,” I scolded, though I couldn’t help laughing myself.
“I felt so bad when I had to tell you I didn’t feel the same way,” he added through his chuckles.
“Oh God,” I covered my face again, though I was still laughing. “Can we please not talk about this? That was so long ago and so embarrassing.”
“Sorry.” He grinned at me. “You know, you’ve changed so much since then. You’re so much more guarded and-“
“Don’t analyze me!” I interrupted, beginning to feel irritated again. I couldn’t understand why he seemed unable to go five minutes without telling me why I behaved the way I did. It was driving me crazy.
“Sorry.” He apologized too much, I noticed. And he was silent again, but not for long. No wonder my mother always said he may as well have been Jewish. “You know, Tay, you’ve really grown up beautifully. Abe’s always saying how proud he is of you. You’re strong and intelligent and beautiful-” I wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t.
“Why are you telling me this?” I interrupted, as usual coming off far more snappishly than I intended. Justin shrugged.
“I don’t know. I guess I just wanted you to know, because you always seem kind of down on yourself thinking you aren’t as good as Bianca or something, and well...you are.” He lifted his eyes up to mine and my breath caught in my throat for a split second as I tried to decipher his meaning. It seemed simple, but I knew it wasn’t. Nothing was ever as simple as it seemed, that much I had learned from life.
“Oh.” I barely got the muttering out of my mouth before our lips met. I wish I could say it was him who kissed me, but it was really more of a joint effort, our mouths moving towards each other simultaneously with little regard for what was going to happen or why. I unconsciously pressed my body closer to his as his hand cupped my face and lips gently caressed mine. And then they stopped.
“Sorry.” His eyes were wide with shock as he looked at me and spoke breathlessly. “I don’t know why I did that.”
“I don’t know why I let you,” I replied quietly.
“Yeah,” he said absentmindedly, running a hand through his hair. There was more silence, soon following by two pairs of traitorous lips meeting again.
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