"Oh, shit, Angel, I should get back home," Taylor said, looking at the time. It was a quarter to nine and if he wanted to stop off at home to pick up Zac before they went to the studio he would have to leave right away. Angela looked at the time and groaned.
"All right," she said. "I just don't want you to leave."
"I know you don't," he said, getting up with her. "But you have a very busy day ahead of you and so do I. We could do lunch." She nodded.
"Yeah. All right, um, give me a holler and we'll go somewhere," she said.
"But you don't have a phone," he said. "Or at least you haven't had it since before that whole Maker of Dreams fiasco."
"I think I lost it," Angela said. "But I meant a mental holler. Why use a phone when we can save on the bills and just talk mentally?" He shrugged and walked to the door.
"You know, about that whole Maker deal," he said. "Is that one of those things where if you kill him, you become him?" She rolled her eyes. "Whatever happened to that? You never told me what went on after I left. Is he dead or is he incapacitated or something?" She opened the door and walked out with him.
"No, he's dead," she told him. "We don't have to worry about him anymore. I talked to the leader of my training session about it and he said that Maker is just one bad guy. He exploits little Earthbounds like myself by tricking us into thinking that is how a mission goes down but that was definitely not how it happens." She pressed the button for the elevator and the doors opened immediately so they went inside. "Accepting the crystal is like a legally binding contract so it's a requirement that I had to do whatever he wanted me to do. It's not the first time it happened; apparently he's taken girls before and he does what he wants with them and then kills them off."
"Well it's a good thing I showed up when I did," Taylor said.
"Oh, yes Taylor. You're my knight in shining armor." She rolled her eyes. "As if I couldn't have gotten out of that one myself."
"No you couldn't of."
"Like I couldn't have yanked his chain off his neck with my mouth," she said. "So debonair of you, Taylor."
"Shut up. I think I chipped a tooth doing that too." He ran his tongue over his teeth. "Yeah, I chipped a tooth."
"Where?" she asked. He opened his mouth and she checked him out. When she did this he always felt like she was some kind of doctor. For the first week it was like a routine; she would show up, ask him about his day, and search for any possible bumps or bruises. If she found one she'd heal it and if she didn't she insisted something must have happened. Looking back he figured she was just looking for a reason to kiss him. "Yeah right," she muttered.
"What?"
"I was so not looking for a reason to kiss you," she said. "It was my job to make sure you were free of any kind of ailment."
"Whatever, you just wanted to kiss me," he said. "Face it, you found me absolutely irresistible." She scoffed. "You so did!"
"All right, Taylor, I did." The doors opened and they stepped into the lobby, making a beeline for the exit to the parking garage. They went to Taylor's car and stopped in front of it.
"So I'll see you at lunch, then?" he asked. She nodded. "All right. I'll give you a little mental holler when I go on break."
"Okay. See you later." She kissed him. He got into the car and she backed away a bit. "Drive safe." A bit confused, he started the car and waved at her before leaving. On the way home he relaxed, his hand against his head and his elbow on the windowsill, one hand on the wheel and both eyes on the road.
He was nearly home when the silence in the car got to him and he turned on the radio. "Ugh," he said, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to switch stations. "There's never nothing good on." He found a good song and looked up. "Oh shit!" he yelled as he plowed into the car in front of him that had made a sudden stop when a kid ran into the street after a ball. His head hit the steering wheel and his trusty airbag didn't even go off. "Oh, fuck," he said, rubbing his head. He looked at of his hand and found a little bit of blood on it. He swore again and looked in front of him. He opened the door and got out of the car the same time a girl got out of the car in front of him.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay?" He nodded and looked at his car. The front end was smashed in.
"Oh, bloody hell, my car!" he said. "Dammit!" He looked at her for the first time and his eyes narrowed, trying to remember where he'd seen her before. She had long blonde hair and bright green eyes. She was absolutely beautiful but there was just something about her he recognized. "Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said. "Oh, you're bleeding!"
"It's nothing," he said, wiping at his forehead. "I'm fine. Nothing a band-aid won't fix." Her eyes widened in realization.
"That's where I know you from," she said, a smile coming over her face. "You bought, like, five thousand boxes of bandages from my store a few weeks ago."
"Your store?" he asked.
"Well I'm a cashier there."
"Oh, yeah, that's where I know you from," he said. "Yeah, well it's a good thing I bought them all because I'm obviously accident prone." She laughed. "Oh, sorry, I'm Taylor." He stuck out his hand.
"Sydney," she said, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake. He stopped dead in his tracks, completely captivated by her. "Um�are you sure you're okay?"
"Oh, yeah," he said, shaking his head clear. "Yeah, maybe I should just cut work today and stay home." She smiled and he looked at her car. "I'm so sorry, I really messed up your car. I'll pay for it; it was totally my fault."
"No, it was kind of my fault too," she said, shaking her head.
"Come on, I wasn't even paying attention. I was flipping through the radio stations."
"So was I," she said. "That's why I didn't see the kid running into the street. I'd just settled on a little Depeche Mode when I looked up and I saw him running out here."
"Oh my God," Taylor said. "That's what I settled on! Personal Jesus is one of my all-time favorite songs."
"Mine too," she said, laughing a bit. "Wow, how ironic." He nodded.
"Yeah�" He crossed his arms. "So, can I have your number?" She paused. "So I can pay for what I did to your car. Or I could give you mine and you can harass me until I give you money."
"You don't have to do that."
"It's the least I could do. I mean, look at it. It's really bad."
"Look at your car! It's worse."
"I insist," Taylor said. "Please." She relented.
"All right," she said. "All right." She went into her car and got out her purse, where she pulled out what looked like a little writing journal. "I know I have a blank page in here somewhere�" She flipped through it and found a blank page, then wrote down her phone number and gave it to him.
"Here, let me give you my number," he said, tearing the page in half and writing down his number on the blank portion. "Here."
"Thanks," she said. They separated to individually call a tow truck, realizing neither car was fit to drive. While they waited, they sat on the hood of her car. She still had her notebook in her hands.
"Um, are you a writer or something?" he asked.
"Well, sort of," she said, turning the book over in her hands again and again. "It's mostly poetry and lyrics�"
"Lyrics?" he asked. "Really?"
"Well, yeah," she said. "I'm not exactly gifted in the ways of music but I do write some lyrics now and then. It's just kind of a hobby."
"Can I�?"
"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "You're really good at this sort of thing and me�I just kind of do it for me." He looked at her and she looked away, a little embarrassed.
"So you do know who I am," he said. She looked back.
"How could I not?" she asked.
"Well I still want to read it. You never know, it could be absolutely amazing." She sighed and handed him the book. "Any particular one you want me to read?" She shrugged.
"No, it's all pretty much the same." He flipped to a random page and began reading, immediately drawn in. He didn't know if the words on the page were meant to be lyrics or if it was just poetry, but it was absolutely breathtaking. He was halfway through it before he already found the perfect melody and by the time he finished it he had the music written in his head. Upon realizing he'd been staring at it for quite some time, Sydney began to get nervous. "So?" she asked.
"This is absolutely amazing," he said, looking at her.
"You're just saying that�"
"No, really," he said. "I love it. I want it. Can I steal it from you and make it a song? I'll give you credit."
"Are you serious?"
"I am dead serious. I already have the music written in my head. It's amazing." She smiled.
"Which one are you reading anyway?" she asked. He showed her. "Sure. Take it. Make it a song. I think you'd make it sound great." He smiled.
"Wonderful."
The two tow trucks came quickly after that and towed the cars away. Taylor had found a band-aid in his car and Sydney had patched up his forehead for him. They parted not long after that, the lyrics to his new song in Taylor's back pocket, right next to Sydney's phone number. He was completely dazzled by her. They had so much in common. She wrote amazing lyrics that he actually could write music to�he'd read a lot of good lyrics before written by other people and none of them connected the way hers did. Nobody ever connected to him the way she did. She was so amazing and so wonderful and he couldn't believe he (literally) ran into her again.
He walked into his house at ten o'clock with a large grin on his face that clashed with the band-aid on his head. Zac was waiting for him and as soon as Taylor walked in the door, Zac was on his case. "Where the hell were you?" Zac yelled. "And what happened to your head?"
"I was in a car accident," Taylor said, still grinning. "The front end of my car is totaled and I hit my head against the steering wheel because the air bag didn't go off, but I don't care." Taylor took the lyrics out of his pocket. "I have a new song that you are just going to love and, to top it all off, I met an amazing girl and I have her phone number." Taylor laughed. "This is so amazing."
"Okay man," Zac said, shaking his head. "I think you hit your head a little too hard. What about Angela?" Taylor's smile immediately faded and he suddenly felt weak. He held onto Zac's arm as he lowered himself onto the stairs.
"Oh my God I completely forgot about Angel," he said, putting his abruptly heavy head into his hands. "I didn't think about her at all! All I can think about is this girl! Oh my God, Zac�it's just, Sydney is so amazing. We have so much in common. She wrote those lyrics and we have the same favorite song. I met her a week or so ago when I bought those bandages. Oh my God." It suddenly dawned on him. "Oh my God, it's her."
"What's her?" Taylor shook his head.
"I need to lie down," Taylor said, getting up. "I'll be in my room." Without another word Taylor ran up the stairs and into his room, his head pounding. He opened the door and found Angela sitting on his bed, her knees pulled up to her chest. "Oh God, Angel. You were watching." She nodded. "I'm sorry."
"I had a feeling something was going to happen on the way home," she said, as if he hadn't apologized at all. "So I kept my eye on you as you drove there, and then you ran into that girl�"
"Angel�"
"I was going to do something about it but then she said she recognized you and I knew right away what was going on," she said. "I knew it was her." Taylor walked over and knelt in front of Angela.
"Angel, I'm sorry."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "Don't be. This is your girl. This is the one you're meant to be with. You be with her."
"I still love you�" She shook her head again.
"No you don't," she said. "You thought you loved me because you thought it was me you're supposed to be with, but it's not me. It's Sydney." He sighed. "I knew it. I knew it all along. I should have never let myself get this attached to you."
"Don't talk like that," he said. "We can still be friends. You mean so much to me, Angel."
"No. We can't and you know we can't. I'm just going to go home to Atlantic City. I did what I had to do and I took care of you. Now you've got her to take care of you," Angela told him. "You don't need me anymore."
"Angel�" She held up her hand.
"Don't," she said. "Here, let me just take care of this for you and I'll be on my way." She leaned in to kiss his forehead but he backed away.
"Actually," he said, "I think I'm going to let this one heal on its own." She nodded and he saw tears in her eyes. He looked down at his hands. "I'm really sorry, Angela."
"I know you are, but these things happen. Fate does have a weird way of working things out." She gave him a small smile, causing him to look up at her. "You take care of yourself, okay? And be happy."
"I am happy," he said. "I'm very happy."
"Good. Then I've done everything I was sent here to do. Goodbye, Taylor." He bit his lip and nodded.
"Yeah," he whispered. "Goodbye."
And with that she was gone.
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