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Chapter Twelve

NICOLE

Another trait that made me basic in my ex’s eyes?

I love flowers.

Roses. Lilies. Daffodils. Daisies.

God, especially daisies.

Our date wasn’t extravagant; it was simple.

Taylor drove us down to Laguna Beach, a few blocks away from where they had rugby practice.

We got pizza at a small hole-in-the-wall shop I wouldn’t have noticed had I been exploring on my own and then we got dessert at a gelato shop around the corner.

After, because we were both so full, we decided to play tourist and explore all the small shops that were scattered along the Pacific Coast Highway.

It was so laid back and low pressure.

It was perfect.

I was on a bit of a high when we walked by a florist, and I was suddenly hit with the perfume of flowers.

There was a bouquet of yellow daisies. Right there in the front of the shop. Waiting for me.

I tapped Taylor’s arm to let them know I was stopping.

“What is it?” They asked. Their hands were shoved in the pockets of their faded jeans. As they saw me approach the bouquet outside the little shop, I tried not to feel too embarrassed.

“These are so pretty,” I practically sighed as I traced the perfectly bloomed flower petals. Taylor was quiet as they stood at my side, letting me admire them, “You’re coming with me.” I informed the flowers.

Taylor laughed, “You’re getting them?”

My hackles rose. I tried to relax my shoulders, “I am. I love these.”

My words were firm. Unapologetic. Confident.

“Hell yeah,” Taylor replied.

I grinned before plucking the bouquet from the bucket they resided in and striding through the shop.

Someone else was completing their purchase in front of me, so I waited behind them. The store had a lot of trinkets, lots of touristy magnets and buttons, and things. There were shells, macabre items, candles, and vases filled with sand.

Shops like these are always scattered across the streets in beach towns like this.

When I felt Taylor’s presence beside me, I turned to look up at them, momentarily surprised to see what was in their hands.

“Let me,” Taylor reached into their back pocket with their free hand, pulling out their wallet.

“What do you mean?” I asked, staring at the matching bouquet of daisies they held.

“I want to buy these for you,” Taylor fidgeted with their wallet, a brief look of nerves coated their features as they dragged their dark blue eyes over to me, “Is that alright? Can—can I buy you flowers, Nicole?”

My heart was fluttering in my chest.

Heat rose to my cheeks.

I couldn’t remember the last time someone bought me flowers.

I had no issue buying myself flowers. I didn’t do it as often as I would have liked, but I was familiar with picking out my own.

Taylor, however, was standing tall next to me, holding a matching bouquet. Doubling the number of flowers I could bring home.

“Yeah,” I nodded, “You can buy me flowers.”

“You sure?” Taylor looked pleased, if the way their lips quirked up on the sides meant anything.

Their words from our intimate conversation on my bathroom floor that morning rang in my head.

They wanted me .

“Yes,” I nodded, snuggling my bouquet to my chest.

Taylor nodded once and stepped forward.

The person ahead finished, and it was our turn.

“Just these?” the woman behind the counter asked.

“Yes, please.” I nodded. Taylor looped one of their fingers through the belt loop of my shorts, tugging me closer before they flipped open their wallet to pay.

“Unless you have more yellow daisies in the back?” Taylor inquired.

I snickered, “No, no. These are plenty.” I leaned into them. My chest felt both heavy and light at the same time.

“You sure?” Taylor asked, before bending down and briefly kissing the crown of my head.

“Positive.” I was grinning as they handed their card over to the cashier.

“You can never have too many.” The cashier shrugged, “Your partner seems fun.”

“They are.” I smiled up at Taylor, who smiled down at me in return.

After that, they took my hand, and we continued walking through the beach town. We had just come to a large hill, and while I was focusing on what it was going to be like walking back up the damn thing, Taylor tugged me in a different direction, near some buildings on the left side of us.

“Come with me,” Taylor muttered, leading me through small shops and alleys.

I laughed; low-key loving being dragged on a side-quest with them.

Another turn, and we were standing behind a block of tourist shops. Bare brick walls with little to no artwork were now behind us, but in front of us was a breathtaking sight.

“…Wow…” I breathed.

It was sunset, the sky was painted in oranges and pinks and warm colors that sparkled over the Pacific Ocean. There wasn’t a beach in front of us, just the cliffside with lots of foliage scattered down it until it became rocks.

We were behind the tourist shops that were scattered along the very edge of the cliff, giving us an unobstructed view of the sunset.

A handful of clouds blocked the sun itself, making it so that I didn’t need to squint to enjoy the view.

“Not bad, huh?” Taylor smirked, tugging me to sit on the ground. We sat with our backs against the brick wall of a bakery, sweets perfumed the air, mixing with the salt of the ocean in front of us.

“What a view,” I smiled at them with my words, loving how they leaned their body against mine as much as possible. We leaned into each other’s warmth against the cool ocean breeze.

I pulled out one of the daisies from the bouquets we just bought and started fidgeting with it in my fingers as I broke the silence we had settled into.

“So…” I focused on the daisy in my hand while a nervous smile tugged at my lips, “This is what it’s like to go on a date with Taylor Desmond.”

Taylor laughed, rubbing a hand over their face once before they turned to give me a hooded look with their eyes, “This is what it’s like to go on a date with Nicole Young.”

I snickered.

“…I pegged you for a chill date kind of gal,” Taylor added.

I raised my eyebrows at that, “You’re not wrong, but what gave you that idea?”

Taylor smirked at me before responding, “Remember Jacqueline’s dance at rugby?”

I nodded. It was a grand gesture of sorts, from my understanding. I was mostly excited to call the group of women at work my friends. I was just happy to be invited to watch the whole thing.

“You were secondhand embarrassed the entire time,” Taylor snickered.

I widened my eyes at them, “How could you tell?”

They gave me a disbelieving look before shaking their head, “You have no poker face, babe. It was obvious you appreciated how sweet it was, but as I watched you watch Jacqueline shake her ass for Leo in front of our team, you looked like you wanted to crawl into a hole.”

I barked out a laugh because they were completely right.

“So, that translates to me liking laid-back dates?” I asked.

“I translated that to mean, though you like gestures, you don’t like big showy ones. It would make sense that you felt the same about first dates. Nothing crazy, nothing exotic. Just… connection. Intimacy.” Taylor lifted a shoulder.

I stared at them, shocked that they thought about a singular moment for so long, so accurately, that they could get a read on me from it.

“What kind of dates do you like, then?” I asked, snuggling against them. I rested my head on their shoulder, and they plucked the daisy from my hand to tuck it behind my ear.

“I like being active.” Taylor smiled against me, pressing their forehead against mine, “Going on hikes, playing pickleball, strolling Laguna Beach with a handful of flowers.” I lifted my head to look at them more directly.

“Do you want to keep moving? There’s a ton of new shops here, we could—”

Taylor stopped me with a kiss, a quick peck, just enough to get me to stop talking.

“I like this,” they whispered, resting their forehead against mine.

They slipped one of their legs under both of mine, somehow bringing us even closer.

“I like walking around, and I like having this quiet moment, too.” They plucked a daisy from one of the bouquets, tucking it behind their own ear.

We now had matching daisies, “I like hearing your soft laugh. I like watching your smile pull against your cheeks, revealing your cute little smile lines.” I tried to fight it, but I blushed and smiled widely at that, tilting my head down against theirs, “I like getting you to open up to me more, even though your last relationship didn’t end well. ”

I bit my lip, looking up at them under my lashes. They were a little blurry this close to my face, but I felt safe with them. Hidden behind a building, the noise of the waves protected our conversation from anyone who might discover us back here.

“I’m…scared of this. Us.” I admitted.

Taylor licked their lips in thought.

“Because of your ex?”

I lifted a shoulder, “Because we have mutual friends.”

They leaned back a little bit, not out of shock, but curiosity. They waited silently for me to elaborate.

So, I did.

“You and I get along so, so well.” I whispered, “Our chemistry is obviously there.” I released a small laugh, but Taylor only smiled, waiting for me to continue.

Not bouncing on the opportunity to change the subject to something sexual and flirty.

“You’re so different from me, and yet, I…

” I inhaled a breath for bravery, “I feel like we just…fit.”

Taylor exhaled at that, blinking once before asking, “And our mutual friends?”

I pressed my lips together to keep them from trembling too much before I continued, “I lost all my friends when Colleen cheated on me…” I inhaled a shaky breath before I elaborated, “They were all her friends first, before she started dating me. So, even though she was the one who cheated, when it came down to choosing sides…I wasn’t chosen. ”

“Oh, babe.” Taylor wrapped me in their arms, pressing a firm kiss to the crown of my head, making sure not to mess with the daisy in my air, “I’m so sorry.”

I sniffed, accepting their comfort as I wrapped my arms around them too and spoke against their shoulder, “I finally feel like I’m forming my group. Friends. Maybe even family, but…if you and I…if we don’t…”

“I totally get it,” Taylor murmured against my head, “I understand your hesitation.”

I leaned back, trying to compose myself. “You do?”

“Yeah,” Taylor gave me a comforting smile, “I’m not going to try to convince you that it won’t ever happen, because I don’t know the future.

But…believe me when I tell you that I don’t want that to happen.

I also don’t think our friends are so emotionally immature that they’d feel the need to ‘pick sides’ between us. ”

I nodded, pecking their lips once.

I loved that they were having this conversation with me on the first date.

I loved that I felt safe enough expressing my perspective toward them, without the fear of them weaponizing it against me later.

“Thank you for listening.” I nodded, “I like you. A lot. And…it’s scary liking someone a lot after, well…”

“Being treated the way you were,” Taylor finished for me.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

We sat there in comfortable silence, my concerns floating around us, not like a looming threat, but as a simple reality. Something to be acknowledged and respected but not intimidated by.

“Well,” Taylor sighed, settling us back against the brick to admire the darker sky, “I guess the only thing to do from here is keep dating the shit out of each other.”

I snorted, “That’s it? Just like that?”

God, how were they so relaxed and carefree all the time?

Taylor smiled, their profile lit up from the setting sun, reflecting off their septum ring, “Just like that.”

The more I got to know Taylor Desmond. The more time I spent with them and the more conversations we shared, the more I felt like I had finally found something.

Something I thought I knew how to find in the past. Something that escaped me in a way I had no concept of understanding, until I could finally see it in its reality.

Feel it. Comprehend the truth of it. It was an overwhelming feeling of finally standing in front of something I had been seeking my entire adult life.

Now that I could visualize it in front of me, understanding the reality of what I was missing somehow seemed bigger.

Scarier.

Every aspect, every detail I learned about Taylor, made me feel like they were stitched together in complete perfection. So different than me, and yet so right for me.

It was as if the universe was finally, finally throwing me a bone.

Here is this person , she was telling me, in all her glory, you will fall in love with every part of them. Every perfection, every flaw. You thought you understood love before? You have no idea what you’re in for. They are tailored specifically to you. For you.

I just hoped, with everything I had left in me, that I could be tailored for them.