Of Icings, Halfpipes, and Pterodactyls

“Keep the change,” I smiled at the barista as I handed her the cash to pay for Taylor’s and my drinks. And with that we headed over to the other end of the counter to wait for our order.

On our way back to the house after our session at the tramp gym, we decided to stop downtown Pittsburgh. ‘We’ was really being diplomatic, as it was really I who had made the executive decision to stop downtown Pittsburgh on this beautiful spring day. Taylor didn’t have any input on the impromptu side stop; it wasn’t like we had any plans for the rest of the other than dinner with her parents and Mama and Papa Malkin.

Once parked, we wandered to a our first stop, which was coffee, well, Taylor ordered coffee and I tea.

Since dropping off Sidney a few hours ago, things between her and I were tense. As with her brother, it felt like there was something on the tip of her tongue she wanted to discuss with me, yet hadn’t. Ever since our first outing, I felt like I had broken down some walls, but on the car ride to the airport this morning and then at the gym this morning, it felt like we had gone backwards a couple of steps.

I couldn’t help but want to laugh at myself at the situation I was in; who would have guessed how much her elder brother would have rubbed off on me. Here I was, trying to communicate with Taylor to figure out what the problem was and fix it, instead of ignoring it or running away from it. ‘Too bad you didn’t make a more concentrated effort to do that before Sidney left,’ my brain snarked.

After picking up our drinks, we headed out of the shop. We wandered around a bit before settling on a table in a beautiful square which was deserted in the mid-afternoon hour.

We sat in silence for several minutes, both people watching as people went along with their business, walking to stores or work or whatever it was they were doing.

“Lily?” Taylor broke the silence.

“Yeah?” I said, but instead it was more like, ‘VICTORY’ in my head.

“Can I ask you some advice?” Taylor’s voice was tentative.

I stiffened slightly. ‘Oh god. Was I the best person to ask for advice? What if it was something really bad? This was Sidney’s sister. What if she were pregnant? Or addicted to drugs? The two were already at odds about something, what if she told me something I shouldn’t know?’

“Of course,” I replied calmly, shushing my over-active brain.

“I have this friend,” she started before pausing.

‘Alright, so she is this friend,’ my brain answered immediately.

“She is sorta dating this guy,” Taylor continued before pausing again.

‘Taylor has a boyfriend? Well, I’m pretty sure Sid doesn’t know about this, and I am certain he wouldn’t approve. How am I supposed to keep this from Sidney? Well fuck.’ My brain inputted.

Instead of saying this, I took a breath and replied, “Alright, so what is the problem?”

“Well, I think it is the wrong guy for her,” she sighed. She wasn’t looking at me, she was looking pointedly at the ground, scuffing the bottom of her shoe against the pavement.

I almost laughed in relief, “Okay, what’s not right about him?”

“Nothing is like, really wrong with him. He is super nice, and she and he have been friends for a long time. And his family really loves her and she loves his family. It is sorta the ideal situation how they all get along. But like,” Taylor let out a frustrated noise, “He isn’t right for her. Because there is another guy, the perfect guy. And the problem is the perfect guy is like, really good friends with the guy she is dating. Which could make things super awkward on so many levels. Cause they aren’t only friends, they’re...co-workers. But the perfect guy is so obviously head over heels for the girl. Like, trust me when I say he has never ever liked a girl like this before. I mean, the way he looks at her, the way he laughs at the things she says, he actually texts her, and he has changed being around her for the better.”

Her tone changed slightly, there was a hint of anger. “But at the same time, I am so completely furious at the perfect guy for having feelings for the girl because she is seeing the other guy. And that is an awful thing for him to do, to fall for someone else’s girlfriend, especially for his friend’s girlfriend. But it is hard to blame him because she is pretty fantastic.”

Taylor had stopped moving all together and was just looking down mournfully, it seemed like she was on the verge of tears, “And the problem is, I was ready to not like the girl. I had my defenses up to not like her because I knew she was dating his friend. But she caught me off guard, I wasn’t expecting to meet her like I did or when I did. And then I wasn’t expecting her to be so--great. And mom and dad love her too. She makes him just a better person. She makes him more relaxed and he is taking things a little less seriously.”

My mouth had gone dry at some point during her rant. I had the very strange feeling that we weren’t talking about Taylor. I also had a very good idea about who all the players were in the scenario she was actually talking about.

I took a sip of the ice tea wondering the best way to go about this entire topic.

“Taylor,” I cleared my throat, “I am, um, I am not dating Geno. I uh, am sorta seeing your brother.”

“What?” Her head snapped up, her eyes flashed in my direction.

I swirled my tea around in its container for a few seconds, my eyes fixated on purplish red liquid. “Sidney and I are sorta seeing each other.”

“But-but, you are dating Geno.” Taylor stammers.

“No, no I am definitely not.” I shook my head.

“You are so close with Geno and with his family. And you’ve gone to Russia several times and even learned how to speak Russian!” She jumped to her feet and was staring down at me looking even more confused.

I bit my lip now wondering how much I should tell the younger Crosby, especially about things I hadn’t even really talked in detail about with her older brother.

“You know I don’t have any family I am actually related to left, right?” I asked her, swirling my tea again.

Taylor looked slightly guilty as she nodded which begged the question if she had been goggling me or some such activity.

“My dad abandoned us soon after I was born and my mom’s parents died before I was born. So, I grew up with just my mom and when I found out she was dying, I sort of, shut down. I wasn’t really talking to anyone, or eating, or functioning during that time. And then when she died,” I shrugged my shoulders, “Geno sorta showed up and picked up what was left of me. He dragged me to Russia and he threw me to his family. They just sorta, sorta just,”

It was my turn to scuff my foot on the pavement, unsure of what to say.

“Evgeni is my brother,” I finished lamely.

Taylor slowly sat down, her brow still furrowed but the frown was off of her face.

“So you aren’t staying at the house because Geno’s house is full?”

“Well, I was going to be staying Geno’s, but last minute did switch,” I answered lamely.

Taylor looked at me expectantly.

Sighing, I looked away as I gave Taylor the full truth, “Geno is seeing that Sabina you met a couple of days. She and I don’t get on very well, so, instead of staying in a hotel, Sid insisted that I stay with him. We just weren’t expecting...”

My voice trailed off at the end again and I looked back over at Taylor. She had a look of horror on her face. ‘Well, that’s a great sign! Nice work!’ my brain sung.

“Geno is dating that Sabina!?” Taylor shrieked.

I nodded tensely.

“She is awful! She spoke like, two words to me and wouldn’t stop shooting death glares at you!” Taylor indignity cried, “I don’t like her at all!”

I tried to mask a laugh with a cough. Taylor had only met Sabina for about 2 minutes the other day, not enough to really get a big enough impression of the woman. At least not enough time I thought. I had a feeling her dislike was coming from somewhere else, and I felt uber warm fuzzy feelings towards the teen that made me want to hug her.

“Taylor, this morning when you and Sidney were arguing in his room, was that about,” I gestured in a circle meaning the relationship.

She understood what I was saying, and answered nodding, “Yeah, he didn’t say anything about you two. He’s dodged the subject the last couple times I tried to talk to him about it.”

“I absolutely in no way wanted or tried to come between you or your brother,” this I firmly stated looking straight at Taylor, “It’s been a pretty complicated relationship from the start. I think we are still trying to figure out what is going on between us.”

“Who else knows about you and Sid?” she asked.

“Geno, Jen my friend from Colorado , Paul Martin.” I paused thinking about the ever growing list of people privy to the undefined ever-growing complicated relationship I had with Sidney, “Oh! And Sidney’s friend, Jack Johnson. And Vero has suspicions.”

“That’s it?”

“Eh, I think so. There are some friends of mine that know there is someone in my life, but they don’t know who.”

Taylor took a deep drink from her coffee drink, something she hadn’t done since we started this conversation. She put her drink back down before looking at me.

“Can I have a hug?”

I started laughing, “Absolutely.”

Notes

Hello Friends!!!! Chapter for you!!! The event you were all waiting for patiently!!! Well, one of the events!!

All right stop, Collaborate and listen! .... mayyyybe too early in the morning for Vanilla Ice

But for cereal, in the future (several more chapters down the road) this story will start to have some occasional overlap with Citius, Altius, Fortius by Flyers_girl. I am super excited!!!!! This story is going to make you squirm as well... in the best possible ways!!!!!