“You have found her, now go and get her. Remember to let her into your heart, then you can start to make it better.”- Paul McCartney
“And then...we kissed. I don’t know, it just happened,” Mira was replaying the past night’s events for her friend Amanda. It was Saturday afternoon and Mira had just gotten home from her dance class.
“Aww...so is this like, ya know, serious? Or was it just a random hook-up?” Amanda continued to grill Mira about Taylor as she hugged apillowon Mira’s bed.
“I...I don’t know. It all happened really fast and we haven’t had timeto talk about it. He probably does stuff like this with girls everywhere he goes and then laughs about it with his brothers.”
Mira knew deep down that wasn’t true. She was trying to convince herself not to get her hopes up. She was pretty confused. She had never really had much romantic experience with guys. She was usually just “the friend” ... the one the guy friend came to to talk about "this girl" he hooked up with last night. Only now, Mira was “this girl.”
“Oh, that’s not true. He seems nice,” Amanda smiled.
Amanda and Mira were complete opposites. Amanda was a short, little blonde who’d been with who knew how many guys. She was a little ditzy, but she used it to her advantage so people would think she was cute. That got on Mira’s nerves sometimes. She had no idea how they got to be such good friends.
“Do you know how old he is?” Mira asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re gonna kill me.”
“How old?”
“Fourteen.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. But I like him, ya know? He’s cool. He was singing Vanilla Icelast night. You would’ve loved it.”
Just then the phone rang. Mira looked at Amanda with a hopeful look in her eye.
“Hello?” Mira answered.
“May I please speak to Mira?”
“This is she.”
“Mira, hey it’s Taylor.”
“Hey Taylor, what’s up?” Mira looked at Amanda with a smile, and Amanda did her little bouncy hand-clapping thing.
“Well...um...I know this is last minute and all but, do you wanna do something with me tonight? Like go out to dinner, maybe?” Taylor had a distressed look on his face while he waited for her to laugh.
“Sure! What did you have in mind?” Mira’s smile never left her face as she sat on her bed.
“Well since you know the city better than I do, what do you recommend we eat?” Taylor was pacing his hotel room.
“Hmm..there’s this really good Chinese place in the village...if youlike Chinese.”
“That sounds great. Um.. how ‘bout I take a cab over to your place and pick you up around 7?”
“That’s fine. I’ll see you at 7 then?”
“Yep, see you then.”
“Bye Taylor.”
Mira hung up the phone and looked at Amanda.“Looks like I have a date tonight,” she said with a smug look on her face.
“I can’t believe you’re going out with Taylor Hanson. You’re killin’ me,”Amanda laid back on Mira’s bed.
“What should I wear?”
“I don’t know. What are the 14 year olds wearin’ these days?”
“Okay, give it up. How old was the last guy you dated? 26?”
“Okay, Okay, so we’re both weird. I don’t know, wear a wonderbra and something tight. I’ve gotta go, me and Jason are going shopping.”Amanda said, referring to her current boyfriend.
“Cute,” Mira said sarcastically as she walked with Amanda downstairs.
“Well, call me later with all the details. Bye babe.” Amanda said as she left.
“Dad!” Mira called as she made her way over to her father’s study. “When’s mom getting home?”
“Around 6, why?”
“Well, I’m kinda, going out with Taylor tonight.”
“Taylor as in Taylor Hanson?”
“Yeah,” Mira said nervously, “It’s just dinner. Anyway he’s coming over to pick me up at 7.”
“Okay,” Gus said with a grin, “That’s fine with me. So is this a business dinner? You’re discussing the video right?” He continued to tease his daughter.
“No, dad. It’s a date, okay? Just two people, going out for dinner and having a good time,” Mira explained.
“Okay, just don’t get attached or anything. Remember, your career is your top priority...right?”
“Career? Dad, come on, I’m 16! I don’t have a career.”
“Well, right now you have a job and it’s with me and it’s good experience. I’m not saying you can’t have fun. I’m saying you need to remember you have a job to do, also.”
“Got it, dad. But it’s just a date.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
Mira jogged upstairs to take a shower. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she was actually nervous.
Mira got out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. In her room, she flipped on the CD player and sang along to her Barenaked LadiesCD.
“Drove downtown in the rain, 9:30 on a tuesday night...”
She danced around her room, which was part of her daily routine in getting ready.
At 6:45 p.m., Mira stood in front of her bathroom mirror. She decided to wear her black pants cause they made her legs look longer, and a lavender cardigan set that was kind of fuzzy.
Her make up was on, and included silver eyeliner and light pink lip gloss. Her dark brown hair was curled at the ends and left down with a silver clip on one side in the shape of a flower.
She liked getting all “dolled” up on occasion, but she opted to skip the wonderbra.
The doorbell rang, and Mira’s mom answered it downstairs.
“Hi, you must be Taylor,” Mira’s mom said with a hint of an Italian accent. “I’m Melissa Van Sant.”
She held her hand out for him to shake. “Hi, Mrs. Van Sant, nice to meet you,” Taylor answered, trying to be as polite as possible.
Melissa smiled. She liked him already. “Well come on in, I’ll tell Mira you’re here.”
Taylor walked through the foyer and into the kitchen. On his other side was the family room and he saw Gus watching TV.
“Hi Gus,” Taylor said equally as polite.
“Taylor, good to see you, son,” Gus got up from the couch to shake Taylor’s hand.
“Hi, Taylor,” Mira greeted once she got down the stairs.
Taylorturned around and smiled when he saw her. “Mira, hi, I was just meeting your mother.”
Mira smiled back when she saw him. He wasn’t wearing leather pants this time, and he looked nice. He was wearing khaki pants and a brown sweater with a green stripe across the front with brown boots. His hair was pulled back and he had his hands in his pockets.
“Where are you guys going to eat?” Mira’s mom asked.
“We were thinking that chinese place on Charlton Street in the village,” Mira said.
“Good choice,” Gus added. “Be careful out there, it’s supposed to snow tonight.”
“Okay, dad. We’re gonna go now.” Mira said as she lightly pulled Taylor toward the door.
“Bye Gus, Bye Mrs. Van Sant, it was nice meeting you,” Taylor said before they closed the door.
