"Taylor. Tay?"

Hearing Weston's nickname for her but not accompanied by Weston's voice broke Taylor from her tangled thoughts. She tore her gaze away from the physics homework on her lap and found Dominic staring at her. Around them, the library held the absolute silence of the Time Stop. She blinked as if remembering where she was.

"What's going on with you?" Dominic asked.

Taylor frowned. "Who says anything is going on?"

Closing his book, Dominic raised his eyebrows. "Seriously? You've been on the same problem for the last fifteen minutes. I know you're bad at physics but that's long even for you. Besides, this morning you were." He waved his hand about. "Floaty or something."

"Floaty?"

"You know what I mean. So tell me, what's up?"

Sighing, Taylor palmed her eyes, caught between needing to tell someone and not sure whether telling Dominic was the right decision. Dominic wiggled his legs which jostled Taylor's ankles where they were laying across his.

"Come on, it's not like you have a lot of other people to talk to."

Taylor dropped her hands, scowling at him even though he had a point. The number of people she could be completely open with was pathetically small.

"Fine," she said, but paused.

Dominic waited as she mentally held a heated debate with herself. Finally, her loner side won out.

"Clint and I kissed."

"Who?"

Taylor stared at him in disbelief. "The guy I've told you about. The one teaching me self-defense."

"Oh. Oh." Dominic cleared his throat. "Was that a good thing?"

Groaning, Taylor fell sideways onto her backpack and buried her face into the rough canvas.

"I don't know," she mumbled.

She twisted her head so she was looking up at Dominic. He eyed her with confusion.

"How'd it even come about?"

Taylor crossed her arms. "We were training and I teleported him across the room and he got really excited and... we kissed."

Dominic's confusion doubled. "Had he never teleported with you before?"

"No, I mean I teleported him across the room without me going with him."

"Wait, seriously? Have you ever done that before?"

"No."

"Taylor that's amazing!"

Smiling, she pushed herself up, momentarily distracted from her current woe. "It was crazy! It took me forever to even teleport a water bottle a couple of feet."

Dominic leaned closer to her, eager. "Did you even know you could do that?"

"No! I had no clue. But of course, Clint was all like 'your power is in your mind, that means you can transfer it into things' and crazy enough he was right!"

"What's it like?"

Taylor bit her lip, feeling the rush of excitement from the previous day surge through her.

"It was like releasing a butterfly I held in my hand. Sounds weird but that's the only thing I can think of."

"Can you do it now?"

In answer, Taylor snatched her pencil. "Open your palm."

Dominic did as she instructed and Taylor sent the pencil away, directing it to his hand. It disappeared from her grasp and landed in his. Dominic widened his eyes.

"That's cool," he said.

"Right! I don't know how I'll use it in general but it's awesome!"

"And you did this with Clint? A full human? You teleported him across the room?" Taylor nodded. "That was probably the most insane thing he's ever experienced. Makes sense why he kissed you."

The bubble of Taylor's excitement burst and she slumped back onto her backpack. Dominic winced. "Sorry."

Taylor said nothing returned to the burden of her predicament. What to do next.

A beat of silence passed between them as Dominic ran his hand through his hair.

"Did you...like the kiss?"

Taylor regarded him with suspicion. "Are you asking because you want to know if I like him or to see if you were better in comparison?"

He shrugged. "It could be for both."

Shaking her head, Taylor punched his arm.

"Okay, you don't have to admit that I'm the better kisser, but did you still like it?"

Taylor wrapped her arms about herself, staring down the long lane of the library.

"I don't know, he didn't really give me time to react."

"What do you mean?"

"He stopped kissing me almost as quickly as he started."

Dominic frowned. "Why?"

"Cause he's super conscious about crossing boundaries with girls and we're not dating."

"Oh." He paused. "Do you want to be dating him?"

Taylor turned her head, hiding her face from the world. "I want life to stop getting more complicated."  Though her voice was muffled by her backpack, Dominic heard her.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you can teleport and are friends with someone who can stop time, I'm not sure simplicity is in the cards for you."

"Shut up," Taylor moaned.

Dominic wasn't inclined to listen since he kept talking. "Tay, I don't think this has to be complicated. You don't have to date him, but what if you asked him to the Winter Formal?"

"Ms. Bennet, I said I would think about that, that doesn't mean I'm going."

Smiling, Dominic poked her arm. "I took that as you would eventually change your mind, Mr. Darcy."

Letting out a breath, Taylor twisted on the floor until she lay face up, one leg still draped over Dominic's. The angle was awkward and uncomfortable but she didn't care to move again. The ceiling above her was a patchwork of off-white ceiling tiles that looked like hundreds of pencils had been thrown into them making tiny holes.

"Besides," Dominic said. "You have to go, I got you this."

She looked at him as he rifled through his wallet and took out a silvery blue ticket. When he handed it to her, Taylor hesitated before accepting. On the ticket, in swirly letters was written Winter Formal, A Dreamland. Taylor thought the tagline was stupid as well as the fact that the ticket was so fancy, it wasn't a night at the Opera after all. But still, she felt the edge of her mouth curl.

"You bought this for me?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I was buying mine and I figured this way you would have to go. Because even if you didn't want to you would be racked with guilt knowing that I had spent money on the ticket for you and then you would have to go."

Taylor studied the ticket again. "I'm so glad that your motives are so altruistic."

"I know. I'm a saint." He slapped her hand with the back of his. "So, are you going to ask Gym Boy to go with you?"

"Is that jealousy I detect in your voice?"

"No, it's mockery. What are you going to do?"

Resting her hands and the ticket on her stomach, Taylor contemplated the holy ceiling once again as if in the dots were the answers to all of life's questions, though at that moment she would simply settle for the answers to this one question of what to do. When the dots gave her no divine knowledge, she dropped her arm over her eyes.

"I don't know. Can I just keep it easy and ask him to save me a dance or something?"

"Save you a dance? Tay, you haven't had a social life for over seven months, not been in a coma for a hundred years."

"Well, I don't know what to do!" She removed her arm from her face. "What would you do, if there was a girl you were friends with but kissed."

Dominic stared at her. "Taylor, that's you, and I think we already know how that ended."

"You are no help at all."

"She says to the guy stopping time so she can do homework."

"Sorry."

"It's fine, in retaliation though our time is up."

Following his words, the world crashed into their sanctuary: the humming of the lights overhead, the faint murmur of voices a few rows over, the rustle of pages turning, and the distant patter of footsteps.

The disorientation no longer affected Taylor and she gathered up her stuff and shoved it into her backpack. She tucked the Winter Formal ticket into the pages of the book she was slowly making her way through. As Dominic stood and slung his backpack strap over his shoulder, he nodded to the book in Taylor's hand.

"What do you think of it?" he asked.

It was the book Taylor had first seen Dominic reading in the Time Stop and one he had lent her.

"The main character Kvothe faces all the worst of life and somehow manages to deal with it better than I am dealing with my life and I didn't lose my parents, become homeless, have to survive on the streets and beat all the odds."

"Yeah, but sometimes normal life is harder than people imagine." As the pair headed towards the library exit, Dominic bumped his elbow with Taylor's arm. "Tell Gym Boy the truth, Tay. Even if the truth is that you don't care to have a normal life and want to keep everyone at bay and refuse to have a relationship with someone."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Thank you for that very heavy-handed advice."

Dominic grinned at her and she fought back her own smile. As they passed the reading librarian, Taylor notice as his lips twitched, clearly paying attention to their exchange and not at all reading.

As the pair approached the cafeteria, they were intercepted by Elena and her posse. Taylor gripped her backpack straps in anticipation, but Elena only noticed Dominic.

"Hey, Dominic," she said, flashing her perfect teeth.

Beside Taylor, Dominic shifted into smirking, winking jock.

"Hey, ladies."

Taylor had the strongest urge to throw up, this version of Dominic mildly nauseating. To avoid ruining her outfit, even if it meant sparing Elena from receiving any projectiles, Taylor cut behind Dominic and into the cafeteria. When she found Bailey already at a table, she discarded her load.

"Elena didn't insult you," Bailey said, not even glancing up from her book. "I say that's an improvement."

"Yup, we're on our way to being the very best of friends."

Bailey smiled as Taylor surveyed the crowded tables until she spotted Clint. Deciding to rip the bandaid off, she cut a path over to him. Among a group of gangly to pudgy boys, Clint stuck out like a stallion in a field of goats. As Taylor got closer she picked up an argument Clint's table-mates were in.

"Dude, you're not thinking straight, it's all about the psychology of the character, could he really eat his trusted horse?"

"No! If we look at it from a survivalist angle-"

The argument died out as Taylor stopped before the table. Eight sets of male eyes all shifted to her. Though there was a variety in skin tones, all the boys staring at her - except Clint - had the look about them that the only sunlight they saw was when their avatar went on a quest. Clint cleared his throat, which seemed to snap them all out of their stunned daze.

"Can I talk to you?" Taylor asked Clint.

Every single boy swiveled their head to Clint as if he had been holding out on them about some very juicy details. Waving them off, he rose and walked with Taylor over to a secluded corner. When she looked back at the table, she wasn't surprised to find the boys all gawking.

"They're good guys. Smart," Clint said in a tone that he'd often had to defend his connection to them.

Taylor shrugged. "I never said otherwise. Besides I'm not one to judge, my friends list is mainly nonexistent."

Clint raised his eyebrow. "Is this what you wanted to talk about? Joining me at my table?"

Taylor glanced back and one of the boys waved at her, smiling. When she nodded to him, he flushed and ducked his head, whispering with his companions.

"No, but it is about friends." She took in a breath and Clint ducked his head as if he already knew what was coming. "About...yesterday."

Clint rubbed the back of his neck, self-consciously.

"Look," Taylor said, "it's just...my life is crazy right now and I don't want to lose what we already have. What I really rely on."

Clint nodded. "I get that. Trainer and trainee are what we will stay with."

Taylor gently pushed his arm. "Friends works too. Like I said my list is small."

Cautiously, he grinned. "I can work with that."

Taylor took a step back. "So this afternoon?"

"See you then."

As Taylor passed by Clint's table, she heard one of the boys hissed as Clint, telling him not to let her leave. Amused, she returned to her table and sank into a chair. When she looked back to where Clint sat, he met her gaze and smiled, his eyes brightening.

For a moment, she regretted her decision.

But her phone beeped and when she tugged it out, she was reminded why it was better this way.

"Need your help. My office @9?"

**********************************************************************

"You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed... walk it off."

(There you go a little pep talk for the way I've just crushed another ship)

Because I know what you're thinking...OH MY GOSH WHAT IS SUNSHINE GIRL DOING!?! SHE'S RUINING EVERY SHIP!!! Yeah, go ahead and yell at me with how frustrated you are for giving you whiplash with these two ships! 🦸🏿‍♂️🦸🏼‍♀️🦹🏽

I know, I know, I really am the worst. You think that with a superhero identity like Sunshine Girl I would be bringing more sunshine into your life, but no, instead it's dark clouds and thunder. Gosh with all these cloud cover who's to know what is on the horizon!

(Not going to lie, I feel like I nailed it on that analogy!)

You can't really be mad right, cause I always keep you guessing!

Okay, moment of honest. This line - "Dude, you're not thinking straight, it's all about the psychology of the character, could he really eat his trusted horse?" Has to be my all-time favorite line I've ever written!

I don't know why but it simply makes me laugh!

Also this description - Though there was a variety in skin tones, all the boys staring at her - except Clint - had the look about them that the only sunlight they saw was when their avatar went on a quest. - is my second favorite I've written. (The first is the description of the elevator at the end of Mr. Write)

It sound weird because I've written a lot of both lines and descriptions but there's something about these two I feel proud about. I don't know, maybe that's weird to say, but hey it's the truth.

What a line from a movie or book that's always stuck with you or that you love?

Fapt amuzant (Romanian): Tom Holland made Marty McFly from Back to the Future as his main inspiration for Peter Parker's character.

Vote, comment, follow but only if stand for hating me for what I'm doing to you.