It was a dark and stormy night - I've always wanted to say that! No, really, it was. I couldn't get to sleep at all. Zac was in la la land on the floor and Isaac was fast asleep on the bunk above me. How come I couldn't just close my eyes and doze off?
The perfectly beautiful day had turned into a nasty thunderstorm. The rain outside the window was hitting the ground in little ping noises. It sounded like there were a million horses dancing around out there. Then, every few minutes or so, the sky would light up, followed by a loud clap of thunder.
My ears picked up the faint sound of music in another room. I wondered who else was being kept awake like me. Lazily, I crawled out of bed and slipped on an over-sized t-shirt before going out into the hallway.
The hall was as dark as I'd ever seen it and except for the occasional light up from the lightning, it was pitch black. As I got closer to the music, it was clear that I was hearing our own music. 3 Car Garage was playing in one of the rooms in the house. My first guess was the only one that made sense...
I creaked open the door to the guestroom just enough to see inside. Jennifer's CD player was up loud and playing Hanson. She was sitting on the bed reading a book.
"Uh... Jennifer?" I said loud enough to be heard over the music.
Jen looked up, her face filled with surprise at the sight of me. "Oh my God, Taylor! Don't scare me like that," she shrieked and jumped underneath the covers.
"Sorry," I muttered. "Can I come in?"
"Um... sure. I guess so," she said and turned the music off with her remote control. "What's cooking?"
"I can't get to sleep," I said sheepishly.
"Me neither. The thunder's keeping me up."
"Well, good. We've got something in common," I said and walked over towards her. I sat down on the bed and picked up the book she was reading.
"Deep Wizardry," I mumbled while studying it in my hands.
"I've read it a couple of times actually," Jen said and took it from me so she could place it back on her night stand.
I got up and went over to the boom box and glanced at the CD's laying on the floor beside it. Just for some fun, I popped in the Grease soundtrack and skipped back over to the bed.
Then, with the remote I switched it to the songs from the night of the dance in the movie. 'Born To Hand Jive' came on and I looked over at Jen. She stared up at me from the bed with curiosity.
"Care to dance, ma'dam," I said in an english accent.
She gave me a weird look. "The room's too small."
"Excuses, excuses," I said and shook my finger at her. "Come on!"
"No, Taylor. It's late. We should be getting to sleep-" I didn't let her finish her sentence. Instead, I pulled her up off the bed by her hand and refused to let go.
"Please? It will be fun! Dancing will tire me out so I can actually get some sleep," I tempted her.
"Well... alright. But just one song, okay?"
"Okay," I agreed. "Now, how do you do this thing? I obviously wasn't born to hand jive!" I said and crossed my hands like I'd seen them do in Grease before.
Jennifer laughed. "Oh, that is so simple! Don't you ever pay attention? It's like this," she said and began doing a nonsense dance with her hands. "I feel like a big idiot doing this."
"That's better than I can do. That looked fun. So, you do this right?" I asked and tried to immitate her movements. I think I did okay... I was just a whole lot slower. "Oh, forget this. Let's do our own thing."
"Sure," Jennifer shrugged. "Let's just do the macarena!"
"I certainly hope you're kidding!"
"I am, don't worry. Just making sure you had a sense of humor," she said with a laugh.
"Okay, so we're both bad dancers. Let's just have some fun," I said and jumped up onto the bed. Then I began jumping around and twirling like an idiot while Jennifer laughed.
Then she jumped up with me. Pretty soon, we weren't the least bit tired as we jumped around and laughed.
"You know," said Jen between gasps for air, "we're going to break the bed if we keep this up!"
"And your point is?" I asked and did a full twist before falling down and rolling off the bed with a big thud!
"Either that or your back," she added and looked down at me.
"Well, excuse me! I can't help it if I'm clumsy sometimes!" I said and straightened out my shirt.
"Taylor, Taylor, Taylor," Jennifer cooed. "Get back up here, please."
"I'm coming," I said and crawled up the side. "What time is it?"
"It's past midnight."
"Woah, really? That's bad!"
"We are going to be so tired tommorow!"
"What do you mean tommorow?" I asked sarcastically.
Jennifer laughed. "Yea, really. I guess I should say 'later today.'"
The two of us jumped to the floor and I let out a big sigh as the CD switched to the next song. I recognized the tune immediately. 'Tears On My Pillow.' An idea flashed through my mind as I glanced over at Jennifer. It was a slow song.
She stared back at me as if thinking the same thing. "Tay," she said softly. "Do you want to dance to this too?"
"I thought you only wanted one song?" I teased her playfully, but Jennifer was already pulling me off my feet.
She looked up at me, being an inch or two shorter and smiled before rapping her arms around me. As if on key, we both started at the same instant.
I'd done this only one time before with Jennifer, except it was in rollarblades at the rollarskating rink. I laughed to myself at the distant memory of Jen's wanna-be-boyfriend, Mark, who I'd given a broken nose with one punch.
As the music flowed, I felt Jen lay her head on my shoulder. I smiled and enjoyed the moment. I just wished it would never end and that the song would just continue on forever.
What am I so afraid of? Why don't I just ask her out! I thought wildly as I felt Jennifer's chest move up and down. Nah. I'd have to be a stupid idiot. I totally screwed things up last time. She probably doesn't like me in that way anymore.
Still the thought pushed its way into my mind and I couldn't just brush it aside. The thunderstorm was still full blast, but the thunder and rain was drained out by the music.
"Taylor," a voice interupted my thoughts. Jennifer took her head away to look up at me.
"Hmm?" I mumbled softly.
"I... um... the," but she quieted down when I leaned in towards her for a hopeful kiss.
Maybe she wouldn't mind. Hopefully she wouldn't mind. Was there a chance. At first, Jen looked into my eyes and I felt her get closer as if to accept what I was about to do.
It didn't last long. Suddenly, without warning, I felt her pull
away from me entirely and look down at her feet. "Tay, the
song's ended," she said barely in hearing.
I nodded and turned to the door as I felt my face grow hot with
embarassment. Before leaving, I turned around with one last
glint of hope. "Jennifer, look. I'm sorry, I just-"
"No, really, it's okay. Trust me, it's just better this way,"
she said and slid down towards the floor with her head leaned on
the bedside.
"Wait, can I at least say something first," I said in more of a
statement than a question and headed back towards her. I found a
place next to her on the floor and she looked up at me.
"Jen, I'm sorry about that. I was just wondering if maybe it
was possible. You know, you and me... us. I didn't mean to
surprise you."
"Taylor, I understand," came the reply. "Maybe it would have
worked out before, but not now. I'm not sure if I'm ready."
I nodded.
"That's okay," I looked down at the ground and played with the
end of my t-shirt.
"It's not that I don't like you or anything. I mean, you're a
great guy and almost any girl would jump at the chance and all.
I'm just not sure of anything now. I don't want to deal with
what happened last time."
"Jen-"
"Tay, don't say anything else," she said firmly and took my
hand in hers.
She was right, in my opinion. There was nothing else I could
say. It would have only made things worse. Still, I felt that
small tinge of regret. It was as if I'd totally blown
everything.
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