Chapter 2:
Isaac and Zac decided not to hang out until 3 and ended up taking off early. Taylor just claimed a spot at the bar and hung out until it was time for Raya to get off. He watched her do a few dancing rotations and was amazed at how different she was.
Taylor thought back to one of the last times he saw Raya...
They were at a church carnival back in Tulsa sitting on a bench sharing some cotton candy. He was a superstar by this point in time and it was hard for him to be out in public. A church carnival wasn't very different, girls kept coming up to him wanting a picture or something.
One girl in particular came up to him and introduced herself. Raya sat patiently like she always did as he was polite and made small talk with the girl. She was very flirty as they always are and slipped him her number before walking away. He put it in his pocket and looked over at Raya who was giving him an are-you-serious look.
“What?” he asked pulling off more cotton candy.
“You're not actually going to call her are you?” Raya asked.
“I don't know. Probably not, but you never know.”
“Taylor she's a slut! Who comes to a church function in shorts that short?”
“They weren't that bad.”
“I could see her butt!”
“Well then I'll just keep her number on reserve for a good time,” he joked.
Raya made a disgusted face, “You can't be serious.”
“I'm not! I don't go for girls like that anyway.”
“Taylor, are you still a virgin?” she asked randomly.
“Why?”
“Because I'm curious.”
“No... I'm not.”
“What?!” Raya freaked, “Why not? How could you do that?!”
“Ray my life is very different from yours...” he began.
“Who cares? You're still the same person and I know you have better morals than that,” she lectured.
“Losing your virginity before you're married isn't the worst thing in the world ya know.”
“I know, but you're only 16. You have your whole like for that kind of stuff.”
Taylor looked up. The same girl that once lectured him about morals and losing his virginity was now dancing on a platform in booty shorts, super high heels, and a teeny tiny top. My how things had changed.
Around 3 Taylor made his way out front to meet up with Raya. She emerged soon after dressed in jeans and a black hoodie with the logo of the club on it. Much different than the get-up she was in earlier.
“Hey,” Taylor smiled opening his arms up to give her a hug. She accepted. He was taller, stronger, and smelled better than the last time she hugged him 7 years ago.
“Do you want to go get some coffee or something?” Raya asked when they parted.
“Yeah sure.”
“There's a place just around the corner I go to.”
The two started to walk in silence. A bit of an awkward silence. Neither of them really knew what to say, it had been so long since they last talked.
“So,” Taylor eventually said, “Of all places, I never expected to run into you in LA, in a club.”
Raya laughed, “Yeah, things have changed a bit haven't they?”
Raya felt almost embarrassed about running into Taylor at the club. She assumed that he probably still had the image of her being the super Christian goody-good and she was about as far from that as she could possibly be. A part of her wanted people from her past, like Taylor, to just remember her as that good girl. It made her transformation easier, knowing she wasn't letting anyone down or disappointing them.
“So how did you end up here, working at that club?” Taylor asked.
“Well... when we moved from Tulsa, I stayed with my mom until I graduated and then immediately left. I went to Colorado for school and tried to work and pay for school myself, but it was just too expensive so I had to drop out. When I was like 20 I moved out here on a total whim with the money I had saved after I stopped school. I got an apartment and a job waitressing. Then when I turned 21 I went to bar tending school and wound up dancing and serving at the club. None of it was ever a planned thing. It just all kind of happened,” Raya explained.
They arrived at the coffee shop and Taylor pulled open the door. They sat down in a booth and placed an order with the waitress.
“Well what got you into bar tending?” Taylor asked.
“Money. I met my now best friend Lindsay when I first moved here and she was bar tending already at a club and making a ton of money. So she urged me to do the same and it's been great. I make more money than her now,” Raya laughed.
“Wow, I would've never guessed that you'd change so much.”
“Yeah well, that's what your father running off does to ya,” she said sort of bitterly, but trying to make it sound funny.
It was time to get the subject off of her.
“So what are you doing here?” she asked as the waitress brought them their coffees, “You don't live here do you?”
“No, not exactly. I own a house back in Tulsa, but we're recording a new album and we rented a house with a studio in it out here to work. We like to get away from our normal environment to write,” Taylor explained.
“So Isaac and Zac are out here with you?”
“Yeah they were actually at the club with me tonight, but headed out earlier.”
“Oh, they should have said hi!”
“You're a hard person to talk to there. You were always swarmed by guys... we'll just have to get together sometime.”
“I'd like that,” she smiled.