I hollered to Tracy in the back and let her know I was getting near the end of my shift. I grabbed a bucket of sanitizer and a disposable rag and started wiping counters around the front counter and prep areas, before turning my attention to the drink cups that needed restocking. I methodically breezed through the rest of my various tasks I had to complete before clocking out. 

Taylor was leaned up against a half wall, bemusedly watching me bumble around. The corners of her mouth turned up into a smile, letting out a giggle when I clipped the corner of a counter in my haste to get to Tracy's office in the back to clock out. 

Bursting from the 'Employees Only' door into the lobby, I glared playfully at Taylor. "You know, it's not very nice to laugh at people when they get hurt." I teased. 

Taylor shifted her weight and put a hand on her hips. "Oh really?" She feigned ignorance. "That's too bad, it's funny."

I rolled my eyes as we exited the lobby and walked together into the parking lot. The sun was bright and I winced as my eyes adjusted. Walking to Taylor's Camry, I waited for her to pop the stubborn passenger door that was giving us more trouble as of late. Sliding onto the cracked leather seats, I glanced over at the bluenette. Her hazel eyes studied me with an odd look, but before I could question her, she spoke. "So... You got any plans for the rest of the day?"

"Not particularly, no. Did you have an idea of what you'd like to do?" 

A perverted smirk crossed her lips briefly, but she shook her head to stamp down what was probably some kind of bad innuendo. "Well, I don't really want to go home yet, but I'm broke till tomorrow and have a half tank of gas. You down for a drive?"

A drive sure sounded nice. Truth be told, I didn't really want to go home just yet myself. Home meant I had to do laundry and find something to eat, shower and tidy my room. I had the energy for exactly none of that right now.

"Sure." I shrugged.

The Camry came to life as Taylor turned the key, putting the car in drive and starting our little impromptu adventure. Instead of our usual path back to the Wooding household, we casually cruised down a few back roads. 

The suburbs faded slowly into a more rural area as we got father away from BurgerByte. The roads got rougher, more curvy and narrower. Taylor produced a random cd from the center console and cranked the volume up. By now, I was used to the songs she would play, so I sang along to a few myself.

I caught Taylor sneaking glances at me from the driver's seat but looking away when my eyes darted over to her. I wondered what went on in that head of hers sometimes. Why she had taken a liking to me of all people; the sheltered church girl with no life experience. Sometimes she seemed like my friend, other times I felt like a gazelle before a lioness. I often thought back to the interaction we had with Kayce and wondered if I was a particularly difficult conquest. 

Lost in my thoughts, I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the window and stared out as we went over a hill, I glanced at the sky as the day began to sink into late afternoon. I looked over at Taylor as we pulled off the road into the parking lot of a park and nature trail. Shutting off the car, we exited the little black sedan. 

I followed the shorter woman towards a small playground, watching as she jumped onto a seat, leaning back in the scuffed plastic swing and tried to get some momentum. Without thinking, I walked over to the swing and gave her a push.

She squealed at the unexpected assistance, which made me giggle behind my hand as I took a seat on the swing next to her. 

Taylor regained her composure rather quickly, giving me a casual smile. Her burning cheeks gave away her embarrassment, but I decided not to pry. I kicked my legs out, swaying to and fro beside her. 

"So, Taylor... why, exactly, did you bring us here?"  

Taylor seemed a little relieved that I didn't call attention to her startled reaction and looked pensively at the sky. "Well, I used to live out by this park. Sometimes when my parents were too busy screaming at each other to pay attention to me, I'd slip out and come here."

Her reply left me at a loss for words. Stammering over a few different responses, all I could muster was a feeble apology. "I'm sorry..it can't be easy to grow up that way." Even with all the fucked up shit in my childhood, at least my parents liked each other most of the time. 

Taylor let out a chuckle. "Yeah.. it sucked sometimes. They should have gotten divorced a long time ago, but they stuck it out and now it's too late for either of them to get out so now they're trapped in a hateful marriage. I remember one time they got so pissed at each other they got into a mud fight. My dad sprayed my mom in the face with a water hose because she called him a manwhore and I mean she just full on launched a dirt clod at his head."

I stared at her in shock and she scratched the back of her head, uneasy that I wasn't also amused. "Hey, at least the trauma made me funny!" She attempted to lighten the mood again, but I ground my heel into the dirt to stop myself from swinging. 

There was an uncomfortable tense between the two of us for a while and we sat in silence. I looked down at my sneakers whilst Taylor played with one of her curls that was dangling down. 

"Well-" I started, offering her a tentative smile. "It wasn't always sunshine and rainbows at my house, either." I kicked a bit of the fading mulch under my foot, scattering wooden shrapnel a few feet into the air. "Everything was all Jesus, all the time. Pretty much everything fun was considered satanic. My mom saw a pack of trading cards in my room one time and burned them in the fireplace. When I cried about it, she made me read passages about having false idols and had me repent form my sins in front of the whole church."

Now it was Taylor's turn to look shocked, but she recovered quickly. "Damn, I knew I had you pegged as a sheltered church girl, but.. uh, I didn't think I was that on the nose."

I picked at my nails and shifted in my seat. "Yeah, I got a healthy dose of purity culture too. Most of my clothes were either a size too big or layers on layers. Do you know how hard it is to wear a dress with a slip and a bolero in the heat of the summer!?"

Taylor shot me a puzzled look. "What in the Kentucky fried fuck is a bolero?"

I couldn't stop the loud guffaw that escaped my lips. "A bolero is like a sweater to cover up your shoulders. You wear it when your sleeves are too short or when you have too much cleavage hanging out."

Taylor scoffed. "What's wrong with your shoulders showing?"

I chewed on my lower lip before answering. "Well, uh.. the way it was explained to me is that men are visual creatures and that if you showed too much skin, well, you'd cause them to stumble. Boys will be boys, that kind of thing."

Taylor looked incredulous. "That makes no sense. No wonder you looked like a deer in the headlights at the mall."

"Yeah.." I blushed a tad at the reminder of the variety of products that I saw in the back of the store. "Any kind of 'fornication' before marriage was considered sinful, even thoughts about sex were considered evil."

Taylor studied me with a strange look I couldn't place, a mixture of pity and curiosity. "So, have you ever done anything?"

The word was vague, but I knew what she meant. I hesitated and for a moment I considered lying to make myself sound a little less naïve. Deciding to be truthful I sheepishly shook my head. 

Her hazel eyes stared at me for a long time. "Have you ever even kissed anyone?"

"Oh, um.. yeah.. once. I was 14 and the pastor's son kissed me behind the church one night after youth group." I neglected to tell her that it was little more then a peck... and that it wasn't particularly exciting. 

Taylor glanced up at the sky, the first streaks of orange and pink signaling the approach of sunset, before returning her gaze to me. "I take it they weren't too hot on gay people either."

I gave her a sympathetic look. "The church shunned anyone who even 'seemed' gay. You'd better not try to defend them either. Lost a couple of my friends that way."

"Does it ever make you uncomfortable that I'm a lesbian?" 

The question took me a bit by surprise and my words came out garbled. "Uh.. Not exactly. I forget you like girls-sometimes. Then you stare at a girls butt and I remember." I laughed awkwardly.

Taylor gave me another one of those odd looks, but instead of saying something, she looked at the sky and then back to me. "We should think about heading back soon." That feeling of missing something hit me again. 

Before I could say anything she was already off the swing and headed back to the car.