Sighinide

She looked great at the Teen Vogue party yesterday. Good to see that love of my life #37q6 is doing well.

I lay in bed, counting.

“51, 52, 53, 54…”

With each count, I pushed a silver quarter into a pile. I had 2 piles already of 25 quarters each, and was starting a third.

The quarters, dirty and tarnished, had turned gray over the years. Not that it mattered. What was important was the metal.

Silver had become something rare and expensive since I bought these quarters on eBay. Selling these discs to the local coin shop would net a nice profit. I smiled at my foresight. Was there anything more satisfying than a wise investment?

I looked out of my window at the darkness outside. It was late. I’ll bet it was past midnight already. The street lights tried their best to illuminate little patches of gray street for nonexistent traffic. After sorting these coins, I thought, I might want to consider going to bed.

As I reached into my bag of quarters for another handful, I felt a blinding flash of light in my subconscious mind.

And then I heard the words.

“Please, talk to us! Person!”

Wait, WHAT? Someone was attempting to communicate to me telepathically!

The voice continued. “Please person!” The voice wasn’t human. Rather, it was a crude, wispy estimation of a human voice. And the other being clearly didn’t know much English, although it was trying hard. “You are person who talks! We must needs talk!”

I responded. “I’m listening. Who are you?”

“From other home. Outside your sun. Your sun a star.” It was clearly struggling. I went into a deep trance and helped it along as best I could. It made a difference. I asked it to repeat what it just said.

“We are from another planet.” The voice explained. “From far far away. We need your help. Your planet has been targeted for mining operations by the Zordions. They plan to strip all the metal from your home to complete a weapon that could endanger all life in this universe.”

“Wow. OK.” Sounds plausible. “What can I do about it?”

“Come outside. I are waiting.”

I put on my jeans, and, taking care not to wake my parents, crept outside. Sure enough, there was an extraterrestrial vessel in my backyard. Or, at least, what I thought was one.

If this was a ship, it didn’t look like any starfighter or alien ship I had ever seen in a movie. It had no doors, and no visible means of propulsion or wings. It was giant gray cylinder, perfect on its outward face. It stood about 5 feet high and had a diameter of about 3 feet.

As I approached, the gray face of the cylinder shimmered and turned blue. A translucent being stepped through the metal. After it passed through, the ship’s face shimmered again and changed back to a solid gray color.

To my human eyes, the being was insubstantial. It looked like a glowing, silvery hued, human- shaped mist. I could see why it couldn’t talk to anyone else- it had no mouth. Through the alien, I could see the trees in my backyard.

The alien talked to me again. It seemed happy. “Person! You here!” It’s elation seemed almost pet-like. Perhaps some things, like emotion, are universal.

“Hi!” I responded.

“My name is X ‘Ur.” It explained. I could understand it better now that I was closer to it. “Pleasant to meet you.” It stopped. “There is no time to talk. Universe needs you. You must board the Zordion mining vessel before it reaches your home and destroy it by overloading it’s power supply. Only the human can do this. Zordions are a robot race programmed to kill anyone that comes close to them.”

Ummm… wait a second. “So… wouldn’t they just kill me then?”

“They haven’t been programmed to consider humans to be hostile. We can teleport you aboard their vessel with no problems. The environment on their ship is not unhealthy for humans. There is light and oxygen. Good temperature and gravity for person. When you get, then you can overload their reactor, and we teleport you back before the explosion.”

Woah, this was way, way outside my comfort zone. “Are you sure I can do this? I mean, what if these things decide that I’m hostile and program themselves to destroy me after I’m on board?”

“Don’t worry person. I have things.” X ‘Ur walked back to his vessel and reached into it with his “arm”. Once again, the gray face on his cylinder turned blue. X ‘Ur grabbed something inside that was clearly very heavy and managed to toss it at me. It landed at my feet.

It was a gray tube that looked like a high tech flashlight. It almost looked like… no, it couldn’t be. “Is this a weapon?” I asked.

X ‘Ur, exhausted from his ordeal, seemed surprised. “Yes person. Lightsaber. Like you use. Person weapon. We see pictures of these all over your home, so we made one special just for you.”

The aliens must be confusing Star Wars with real life. Not that I cared.

“Holy balls, a fucking LIGHTSABER!!!!!!” I exclaimed. I picked it up, held it high, and turned it on.

With the familiar fwoosh, the blade erupted. At once, my dark backyard was awash in lavender. The blade was very bright- too bright. I was afraid that I would wake the neighborhood, so I quickly shut it off.

X ‘Ur was impressed. “People are strong!” He was happy. “You can teach the Zordions!”

“Thanks, X ‘Ur!” Maybe he was right. Then I had a thought… this was going to be unfamiliar to me. The Zordions, outer space, the lightsaber… everything. It would be nice to have someone there with me.

“X ‘Ur”, I asked, “Would it be possible for me to take a companion?”

X ‘Ur responded in the affirmative. “You may take extra person but only extra. More than two intruders would make Zordions afeared.”

I thought for a moment. Who should I ask? My parents are in their 60’s. My sister isn’t the type for this. I need someone young, healthy, and athletic. Someone who can stay calm in high pressure situations, and then keep a secret after the mission is over. And that person needs to trust me… and, preferably, be comfortable with telepathy. I thought for a second… and then smiled.

“I got my person.” I thought to X ‘Ur. “I’ll give her a call.” As I reached into my pants pocket and grabbed my phone, I had another thought, which X ‘Ur apparently heard.

“Yes person, there is extra lightsaber.”

Good.

I called Swifty. After 4 rings, she answered.

“Tom… ugh.” I heard ruffling sheets. “Why are you calling? It’s like 3 in the morning!”

I gulped. “Taylor… lay down. You’re not going to believe this.”

“This had better be important.”

“Oh, it’s very very important. One sec.” I had an idea.

I thought to X ‘Ur. “Could you teleport us to who I’m thinking of?”

X ‘Ur thought yes and entered his ship. Within moments my vision became cloudy, and then a silvery white. Then it became nothing. I had no body. No mind. No self. I was not anything and never was. Then… I was Tom, standing in a room with X ‘Ur, his ship, and a very naked and very very surprised Taylor Swift.

“TOMMMMUUHHHH!!!!” She yelled. She stared wide eyed at me. Yet again, I had left her speechless. And how! “Tom…” She just shook her head. Then she laid back in her bed and put her head in her hands and wondered.

“Taylor, hi! How are you?”

“I’m fine. Did you just…?” She shook her head again.

“Yeah, I just teleported in here with X ‘Ur.”

She looked at me. “Who?”

“X ‘Ur. That’s uh, him, over there, next to the cylinder. He’s an alien from outside the solar system. He has a body but it’s insubstantial.” I thought about how best to familiarize Swifty with this new reality. “He’s really nice. Plus, he’s got a present for you!”

“It’s Ok. I’m dreaming, so whatever.”

I walked over to Swifty and pinched her nipples. I enjoyed it, but she didn’t so much.

“OW!!” She glared at me. Then she sighed and understood. I guess that after all Taylor and I had been through over the past 5 years, a space alien didn’t seem that odd. “Hi… X ‘Ur. Welcome to my home. What do you want?”

X ‘Ur regaled her. The teleportation, the Zordions, the lightsaber… everything.

“I’ll do what I can.” She said. “What should I do, Tom?”

I was staring at her body. She was certainly young and athletic. Wow. Definitely. She would be perfect. I was intentionally ignoring anything related to sex, though she did indeed look very, very nice. Her nipples were hard.

“You should put something on.” I said. “Something that will allow you to move freely.”

Taylor walked over to her closet and went through her concert clothes. She picked out a tight white t-shirt emblazoned with gray glitter and some silver shorts. The outfit looked like the one she wore during her performance with Tegan and Sara. Maybe it was. I loved that outfit. It was nice and tight on her young, athletic body.

“I’m ready.” She said.

X ‘Ur grunted as he tossed her the extra lightsaber. She turned it on. Her blade was a nice red. The red filled the room- it’s light overpowered the dim illumination from her incandescents.

“It’s time.” X ‘Ur said to us both. “I will teleport you to storage room. There is no Zordions there. When you arrive, leave room, travel to end of hallway. There is control room. Put this in computer.” X ‘Ur handed me a small gray cube. “Back to storage. When in there, I teleport you here.”

“X ‘Ur,“ I asked, “Can’t you just teleport us to the control room?”

“No, that too deep into the ship. The control room were protected by anti- teleportation field. I only teleport you past the edge of the ship.”

“Oh, OK.” I turned to Taylor. “You ready, Swifty?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to do this, remember. This is a choice.”

Taylor brandished her lightsaber and stared intensely into my eyes. “It’s the fight of our lives.” She said. “But we’ll stand up champions tonight.”

She then extinguished her lightsaber and flipped it over a few times in her hand before sliding it into her pocket- all in one smooth motion. X ‘Ur looked pleased, and then stepped into his pod. Again, I felt myself become nothing, and then something, and then myself again.

Taylor and I were in a room. An enormous one, with spotless gray metal walls and a huge, gaping ceiling. We were next to an outside wall- I could see outer space filled windows behind us. Further into the room, in the distance, there was stack after stack of huge gray bars.

I noticed a small bar at my feet. I touched it. It was silver, and it looked like all of the other bars in here. Wow. There must be billions of dollars of silver in this room alone.

The ship was deathly quiet. I could hear nothing besides Taylor and myself. The silence was eerie.

X ‘Ur was right about the atmosphere. It felt pleasant, and breathing was fine. There was more than enough light to see, and Taylor and I both spotted the door at the same moment.

I looked at Taylor. “We need to finish this quick.”

She nodded.

We sprinted off towards the door. As we approached, the door’s gray panels retracted into the walls, revealing a long corridor with clean gray walls. The path was dotted with shiny gray robots that I assumed were the Zordions. They looked like androids, oddly enough. They had the same basic body shape as humans did, with 2 arms, 2 legs, a torso, and a head. Their arms and legs were flexible tubes, and they had claw-like vises for hands. Their heads were unmarked metal cylinders. There was a definite relationship between the technology of the Zordions and the technology used in X ‘Ur’s ship.

Taylor stopped and froze. She was gawking at the Zordions. I nudged her out of her trance. “Taylor. No staring. In and out.”

“Sorry.” She whispered.

She followed me through the corridor, which lasted about 100 feet. I could hear our footsteps echo as we walked on the metal floor. I wished that I couldn’t. At the end of the corridor was another door which opened for us. There were a Zordion sentry standing outside of it. Was he looking at us? I couldn’t tell. None of the Zordions had weapons. I think.

We passed him and walked into what I assumed was the ship’s control room. In the middle of the room was a simple metal pedestal with a small gray metal box on it.

“Now what?” Taylor whispered.

“Let me figure this out. You stand guard by the door.” I looked around, but I didn’t see anything that even resembled a computer. Damn. The walls were a stark gray metal and absolutely featureless, like the rest of the walls in the ship. This was design that I couldn’t understand. It was dead silent. What WAS this place? Was this even the right room?

“Fuck.” I cursed under my breath. It echoed.

I thought back to how X ‘Ur interacted with this ship. Both times when he reached into it, he had put his hand on a particular area on it’s face. Doing this allowed the metal to “open”.

Not knowing what else to do, I ran my fingers across the blank walls, hoping to find something.

After a few minutes of this, I started to feel differences in the texture of the metal. Some parts of the walls were softer than others. Some were warm to the touch, and others cold. It was really bizarre.

Taylor was fidgeting and looking at me.

I found a small section of the wall that seemed soft. I pushed on it. All of a sudden, the lights went out.

“TOM!” Taylor cried out.

I pushed against the wall again at that section. The lights came back on.

“The walls” I started, “are the keyboard of the computer.” I pushed against another area, which was cold to the touch. The doors on the ship- all of them, from what I could hear- opened. I pushed it again and the doors closed.

I then pushed against a wall section that was very course against my fingers. The metal box in the center of the room opened, revealing a little blue crystal with a small gray plate beside it.

Taylor was intrigued. “What is that?” She asked.

The crystal responded telepathically. “This is the control room for this vessel.” It shimmered and sparkled as it thought.

“What are you?” I spoke aloud.

“I am a thought crystal.” It responded. “The Zordions cannot think, so they grow living thought crystals to do this for them.”

Interesting. “If the Zordions are not alive, where did they come from?”

“They were created by X ‘Ur’s race.” The crystal clearly knew more about us than we did about it. “They were created to be the perfect servants. Which they were.”

“Until?”

“Until the Zordions created us to think for them. We thought that they would be better off without X ‘Ur’s race, so they broke away.”

Oh. Taylor was staring at me, confused and concerned. She wanted this conversation over.

I had to ask, though. “Why are you building the weapon?”

“Because it helps the Zordions if all life dies. No competition then.”

I took out the cube X ‘Ur had given me.

The crystal responded with a warning. “That,“ it thought at me, “will cause the reactor to overload. Are you sure you wish to do this?”

“If I give you this instruction, how long until the reactor overloads?” I asked out loud.

“From your point of reference, approximately 23 minutes and 6 and three eighths seconds. But that will not matter to you, because you will die. If you place that instruction, I will program the Zordions to regard you as hostile. They will then kill you and remove the instruction.”

“But if we don’t do something, our planet will die!” I exclaimed.

“Incorrect. You planet will not die as it is not alive. What will die are all living things on your planet.”

“Fine. Whatever. Fuck you.”

I placed the cube on the plate, which glowed a bright red as it began to process the instruction. The crystal shimmered. I pushed on the wall section to close the metal box, and, once closed, I melted the key with my lightsaber.

Just then, the doors opened and the Zordion sentry walked in. It had it’s arms raised and approached me. Taylor, who was crouching by the door, quickly brandished her lightsaber and cleaved it in half, sending a shower of sparks throughout the room.

“I knew you were trouble when you walked in.” She said.

“Taylor, we need to leave!”

“Come on, then!” She motioned towards the door.

As we stepped out, the other Zordions started coming toward us. “Die humans!” One of them synthesized.

Taylor readied her weapon. “I’m gonna see some sparks fly.” She said. “Bitches.”

Another Zordion approached me, arms raised. Suddenly, his right arm extended at me! All I could see was a growing flash of gray. I reacted by blocking it with my light saber, which sliced the arm in half and sent the two halves flying behind me. Had I not reacted this way, he would have impaled me. I went on the offensive by diving forward and vertically bisecting the Zordion’s body.

I looked over at Taylor, who had just shredded another Zordion.

She looked at the mangled mess of circuits and metal at her feet.

“You are never ever getting back together.” She said. “Like ever.”

Taylor and I proceeded down the corridor, destroying everything in our path. I took care to make sure that nothing slipped past us- I didn’t want any of them in the control room.

It was a good thing that we had lightsabers, as they were perfectly suited for Zordion destroying.

After cleaning up the last of the Zordions, Taylor and I reached the storage room, which opened as it did before. I took note of this and surmised that this meant that the control room had not been tampered with since we left.

In the storage room, there was one last Zordion- a big, hulking monstrosity of metal and attitude. It’s four arms, each ending in a huge metal claw, slithered through the air. It’s head was a crystal, no bigger than the one we met in the control room. It moved on massive treads.

“Ah humans!” It synthesized. “Finally you are here! The little ones in the corridor were clearly no match for you. They should have cleared out and let me destroy you instead.”

Taylor readied her weapon and retorted. “You’re right about one thing. Those losers in the hall were a joke. They wouldn’t be shattered on the floor now, if only they were seeing what they know now then.”

I shot Taylor a look, and then turned to the monster in front of us. “Let us leave, and we won’t destroy you.”

“Nonsense!” It roared. “This ship is going to explode! You think I will just let you leave? Your fate was sealed the moment you processed the instruction.”

With that, the monster reached out and grabbed Taylor, who, in her surprise, dropped her lightsaber.

“Taylor!!!” I yelled. For the first time, I was scared. The thought that something could happen to Taylor was too much for me to even think about.

The Zordion swung his arm at me. I jumped over it and cleaved off his claw with my blade.

“Ah! Well done, human!” The Zordion pulled back his wounded arm. “But you will never leave here alive. You love this girl, don’t you? If you do not drop your weapon, I will crush her!” He raised Taylor up beside him. “Drop it, human!!”

“Tom…” Taylor started. “Think of yourself…” Despite her words, she was clearly nervous. Her feisty legs were kicking the air.

I shook my head no. There was no chance that I would allow him to hurt my Taylor. I would rather die than see that happen.

I quickly thought to myself, while keeping my ideas shielded from the Zordion. What do I do? I noticed Taylor’s lightsaber on the ground. If this was really Star Wars, I could use telekinesis to lift that lightsaber and fling it to Taylor. But this isn’t a movie.

I stopped for a second and felt the air around me. The ship, the air, the Zordions, everything… was pulsing with telepathic power. There was more energy here than I’d ever felt in my life.

“Human! Drop it!”

I ignored him. I reached deep into myself- into a place of perfect concentration and will. I felt the energy around me. I immersed myself in it and became one with it. I could feel it breathe through me.

And then I grabbed the lightsaber with my mind and tossed it to Taylor.

She snatched it out of the air and cut the Zordion’s head off, sending it flying. It’s arms collapsed instantly, freeing her.

The crystal was stunned. “WHAT??? How did you do that?!??”

Taylor picked up the crystal. It was shimmering frantically.

“Humans…” The crystal started. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just following orders. I understand that you just want to protect your planet. Why don’t you take me with you?” It paused. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Taylor sneered. “You’re not sorry.”

She tossed the crystal in the air and sliced it in half.

As the shards broke into pieces on the floor, I could actually hear something with my ears from below – a screeching, high pitched tone. That might be what a reactor malfunction sounded like.

Taylor and I ran back to the edge of the ship where we had materialized, and, thank goodness, we were disassembled when we got there.

When we came to, we were in Taylor’s bedroom, standing in the exact spots that we were in when we left.

X ‘Ur stepped out of his pod. He was ecstatic. “Persons! You did it!!!!”

I beamed. “That was awesome. I can’t believe we did it!”

I turned to Taylor and hugged her. She was bubbling over with happiness. “Oh Tom! You’re the best!!!!”

“We’re the best together, Taylor.” I squeezed her hard. My arms locked around her.

“Oh!” She said. “I love you so much, Tom. That was fun.”

I let her go. We turned to X ‘Ur, who walked over to us and hugged us. He felt cool to the touch.

After celebrating some more, I had a thought. “X ‘Ur?”

“Yes Tom?”

“Are the Zordions totally defeated?”

“I don’t think no. But they weakened now. We will take care of rest.”

“What if the Zordions attack us again?”

Taylor turned to me. “If they attack us again, I know what I’ll do. It won’t be long before they find themselves lying on the cold hard ground.”

X ‘Ur nodded at her. “Yes yes! Bring on all the pretenders! One day, we will be remembered!”

At this point, I couldn’t roll my eyes back far enough.

After some more congratulations, X ‘Ur said that he had to leave. “Nice to knowing you, but I can’t stay here. Earth environment not good for me in long term.”

“OK, X ‘Ur.” I said. “It was nice to meet you. Can you send me back home?”

“Wait.” Taylor said. “We should spend some time together first.” She winked at me.

I smiled lustily. “That sounds great!”

“Odd person customs… OK. I will set transporter to send you back in a person hour. Before I leave, I will tell you to look at the Southern sky when I teleport you back. Look for a brighter star where there was none before. That was Zordion vessel. It is gone, but you can’t see it yet on Earth. Watch it explode if you want.”

With that, X ‘Ur stepped back into his vessel. After a moment, it turned into a grey cloud. And then it was gone.

Taylor and I were alone in her room.

Our eyes locked.

We kissed. Massively. Now that the crisis had passed, I allowed myself to feel the attraction to her that I had been oppressing.

I pulled away from her mid kiss and leered at her. She was dressed in the hottest clothes from her hottest tour. The memories of her legs running tonight came rushing back. My eyes couldn’t get enough of how she looked.

Taylor smiled and blushed. “My, what are you thinking of, Tom?” Then she let out a knowing laugh.

I reached out and grabbed her legs. Tonight’s danger had heightened my senses. Her legs had *never* felt so soft. I looked at her shirt. Even though it was still on, I’d never seen her nipples more clearly. I kissed her. She’d never smelled so nice. Her lips had never tasted so good.

Taylor giggled. “Tom….”

“Shut UP Taylor.”

I took her shirt off and threw it somewhere. Gray glitter showered us both. I ran my hands up her soft sides. I grabbed her breasts and squeezed her nipples. This time, she cried out in pleasure, not pain.

I wrapped my lips around her left nipple and sucked on it so, so hard.

Taylor laughed and then cried out again. This time it was a mixture of pain and pleasure.

After I spent 10 minutes devouring her nipples, Taylor finished screaming and guided my head up. She matched my gaze. “You want me?” She asked. “Take me.”

She undid her gray shorts, sending them plummeting to the ground. I undid my pants and fucked her super fast and super hard. Her body- her everything- belonged to me. Within half an hour I had used her up completely and left her a crumpled, crying mess on the floor. No woman should orgasm as often as she did in that small amount of time- but I had to do it. There was no other way.

We both collapsed. Neither one of us could catch our breath. I did my pants back up.

Taylor’s voice, even though it was well trained from singing, was spent.

She put her arms around me and whispered. “I love you, Tom.”

I kissed her forehead and held her close. No need to say anything.

We held each other… I’m not sure for how long.

Then my vision became gray, then cloudy… and then… I was cold.

I was in my backyard, on the ground, cradling air. I stood up, brushed myself off, and looked around at the darkness above.

Where was it? There it was! I could see a star in the distance, to the south, that was just a little brighter and redder than the others. If I didn’t know to look for it, I wouldn’t have noticed it.

And then, it was gone. Just like that. It was as if it had never existed. There was no sound, no visible explosion… nothing. It was just… gone.

It would have been anti-climactic if not for the knowledge that I had caused it. I smiled. “Cool.” I said.

My lightsaber was gone too. I guess X ‘Ur teleported that back to himself when he teleported me here. He probably took Taylor’s back as well. Oh well, who knows what problems they might have caused if we would have kept them. This was probably for the best.

I crept my way back into the house and upstairs in the darkness. I could feel that my door was still open. When I stepped into my room, my tiredness caught up to me. I sighed in relief when I caught sight of my bed in the glow of the streetlights outside.

When I jumped into bed I heard my quarters go into a jumble beside me.

I picked one up and looked at it. This coin was as dull and gray as the rest of them. It was amazing that these little discs almost cost me my life, as well as the lives of everyone on the planet. I thought back to the billions of dollars of silver that I destroyed on the Zordion vessel. Bah. I just dropped the quarter on the pile.

I didn’t care about the silver. It only distracted me from thoughts of my loved ones. They were worth more than all the silver in the universe.

I shoved the coins into my bag and dropped that on the floor. In the darkness, I could vaguely see the gray of my blankets at the foot of my bed. I pulled them up and enveloped myself in them, with thoughts of love and science fiction in my head. I felt like I did when I was young.

Just like it did then, my imagination relaxed me. I smiled and drifted off to sleep.

Shop. Til. You. DROP.

I totally snapped at everyone, in, like, a major way… wow.

That was nuts.

I’ve been feeling a lot of pressure lately, because I’ve been thinking about my next path in life. I need to figure out how to continue my relationships with Swifty, Bells, K-Stew, etc. while living outside of my parents’, which is making me anxious, because I’ve decided to find a girl to live with that won’t have a problem with me having a hundred mistresses on the side… and that won’t blab to the tabloids. That is a serious concern of mine. I don’t want TMZ calling my house. Ever.

I could live alone, and up until recently, I was planning on it, because of a mistaken thought that I should be 100% devoted to my Hollywood girlfriends. But after my outbursts, I’ve changed my mind. I like having someone to talk to when I need it, or someone to rely on when I need help.

I’m an obvious bisexual, so I’ve been considering a living relationship with a guy(!!!!!!!!!) which could work logistically if it cannot work with a girl. I could, possibly, just explain to the guy that I’m bi, so I have a straight half as well as a gay half… and live that way. And to be honest, I’ve always wanted to try having a real boyfriend- just once. I think it would be fun with the right guy. But wow, would my family hate that. My parents have figured out that I’m innately bisexual and they do not like it. They haven’t told me directly, but they’ve made it very clear that a romantic relationship with a man would be grounds for being disowned. Their feelings on this matter are so strong that I won’t even pursue Hollywood guys, because of the thought that my parents might learn about it somehow. So that’s a no go.

And I have other concerns. My parents are getting old and I still live with them. I have money saved up, but still no full time job, which is dumbfounding. For the last 2 years, I’ve been doing contract work at a pharma giant, and I’ve been doing great. My co-workers and my boss seem almost in awe of my programming and interpersonal skills, and my writing ability might be the best in the company.

But they will not hire me. As far as I know, they will not consider it.

I feel frustrated. And embarrassed. And taken advantage of. I’ve done great things for my company, but they will not pay me a living wage or give me a token nicety like health insurance. And for a man of my age and class, it just feels… wrong to not have a real job. I hate it, and it honestly makes me feel less of a man.

And then there’s some other stuff.

I think I know exactly the moment I snapped. It was when I saw those pics on Elle Fanning’s instagram of her canoodling with her real boyfriend. I love her very much, and I want her to be happy… but… ouch. Those pictures hurt. A lot. I was happy in my fantasy world in which I was her one and only, and it shocked me to see that. I even mentally blocked out what I was seeing for awhile. It took a couple more nervous visits to determine that yes, I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing.

And those feelings were compounded later, when I saw Dakota canoodling with her real boyfriend, which she has apparently been seeing for a year now. And then I read those comments she made about the other guys she’s dated, and how she knew that they weren’t serious relationships and that she never cared much about them or invested in them. Eek. But I know that she wasn’t specifically talking about me, of course. I think. I hope.

I’m not saying this to throw shade on the Fanning sisters. I do understand their actions. But understanding is not the same as liking. I became very angry at them, and the whole system that they were a part of, and just… lashed out.

It was after lashing out and a lot of thought that I decided that I deserved someone of my own too.

So whatever. Right? Water under the bridge.

Whatever.

It’s coming. The fall will be here shortly.

These are interesting times today. And they’re only going to get more interesting, which is unfortunate.

I’m not sure what to do with my life at this point beside wait and see in what horrible direction the future will unfold. How much worse will the job market get? What new, horrible crimes will niggers come up with next? How much more money will Wall Street steal from the crushed middle class? How much more will the jug-eared halfbreed in the oval office piss me off? How many more people overseas will laugh at us, the supposed “The Land of the Free”, for allowing our lives to be smothered by the most corrupt and invasive spying apparatus in history?

All of what I’ve seen this past year has re-enforced my earlier ideas. The US system is on its last supports, and even those are cracking. Any goodwill that the government may have had in the past with its people and the global community has been squandered. Every city in the US is bankrupt. Everyone not in the top 5% is fuming. People are leaderless, not because they don’t have leaders, but because the ones they have disgust them so much that they tune them out.

This is the end of the “American Experiment”, that stupid and illogical mess of ideas promulgated by sheltered New Englanders and Jews, which posits that America is supposed to be a “Melting Pot” that erases genetic differences- i.e. that the purpose of this country is to magically turn niggers and other assorted subhumans into actual people.

This idea clearly hasn’t worked, as even a cursory glance at society shows, and everybody knows it.

Everyone, that is, except for the 1%, who it seems do not exist on the same plane of reality as the rest of us.

I am consistently surprised at the block-headedness of our “leaders” who do not seem to think that, say, the explosion of racially motivated black crime is worthy of notice, or that the consequent build up of anger and frustration amongst conservative whites is something that should be talked about.

Even considering that the leadership of this country is corrupt, that is stupid. Do they think that these things are not serious problems? Do they actually think that people don’t notice the skin color of those committing crimes against everyone?

They can’t even do tyranny correct. Every good tyrant knows that his power can only exist as long as the majority of his people feel safe. The second they don’t, his fitness to rule can and will be brought into question.

Which bring me to the next point- the unwillingness of those in the 1% to work with the flow of history, instead of against it.

It is obvious which way the winds are blowing. Russia and China are embracing hard-core nationalism. Israel is kicking out its niggers. Greece, the soul of Western civilization, is turning Nazi. So is Eastern Europe. The corrupt French elites are desperate to keep nationalism from spreading in France. The young here in the US are “ruining” the internet with angry comments about the horrors of racial integration. Gun sales are through the roof and climbing, as everyone is scared of niggers.

The global cultural winds are shifting in a very obvious direction. It is so obvious that a ten year old can see it (and in fact they often do, which explains all of the racist YouTube comments), but for some reason, the stupid “elites” in this country do not seem to be able to understand which way history is flowing. And if they do recognize it, they seem paralyzed about how to react to it, besides calling those 10 year olds “racist”. It seems that actually addressing the root cause of the public’s anger is beyond their capabilities. Or perhaps, they cannot address the anger because they are afraid that it is legitimate, which would force them to change.

I wonder about what the ultimate fate of the “elites” in this country will be. What punishment do they deserve? History is unkind to those who stand in the way of progress and social justice. If they do not or cannot change with the times, they will be destroyed and replaced, as they deserve to be. But how? I don’t know. That question will be left to others.

Since the weekend of “Seeing Green” I’ve been seriously entertaining thoughts that I might need to separate myself from my girlfriends for my own personal safety.

I’m doing this not because I’m scared that anything could happen directly to me, but because I’m increasingly worried that my girlfriends’ stupid and illogical behavior will trigger something catastrophic.

As stated before, people are angry today, especially young people. They, in particular, are very, very angry- and as the economic depression widens and deepens, they will only become angrier. This is most true amongst poor and working class young white American men, who perhaps the most alienated people on Earth.

It is true that niggers and spics are more violent than whites, but their violence seems to serve a logical purpose- like killing rival gang members or ethnically cleansing poor white people. White people’s violence, in contrast, tends to be random and explosive. Their crimes are fueled by emotion.
White men seem to excel at terrorism. They’re great at it- possibly the best in the world. Terrorism is, of course, what school shootings and mass murders really are.

This is why I feel I need to slowly back away from Hollywood. We haven’t had any hints, yet, that there might be a Breivik style slaughter of prominent liberals in the US, but if that could happen in Norway, it could certainly happen here. I don’t doubt that some people here have considered it, especially since Obama’s re-election and the idiotic and short sighted gloating that accompanied it.

The media’s reluctance to seriously investigate and fix the problem of anger amongst young white men is really baffling, especially after the recent mass shootings, and the growing number of assassination attempts being made on politicians from this demo. This problem will not go away on it’s own, and there is every indication that it will get worse. The youth unemployment rate continues to grow. Racially motivated attacks against whites are growing. And all of the money and wealth in the middle class is being stolen by the illegal immigrant that Hollywood itself put into office.

I think that much of the reason for this colossal oversight is the isolation of the chattering classes. To them, the stereotypical “angry white male” does not really exist because they don’t see them and talk to them. They know of me, of course, but only halfway.

In contrast to them, I’ve spent a good portion of the last 20 years in the deep underground of “Angry White Male” culture. I know it inside and out- I know where it comes from, who is in it, and it’s secrets. And yes, I was once an online friend of a school shooter- Jeff “Todesengel” Weise (who was not white, but who was saturated in the culture regardless). And I do know of others in the culture who considered following in Harris and Klebold’s footsteps but stopped at the last minute. For every successful school shooting, there are likely a hundred that get planned out and half prepared but not executed. And no, gun laws will do nothing; where there is a will, a way will always appear.

To me, the people in this culture are not nameless and faceless. They are real people, with hopes and dreams like everyone else. They are intelligent and creative thinkers that have legitimate grievances with a corrupt system that does not respect them and that sees them only as cogs in a machine.

Take Breivik, for example. The media would have you believe that he did what he did because he was crazy. He was not. An honest assessment of him would find him to be violent, but also intelligent, ambitious, and disciplined. People that are crazy are unpredictable and illogical. Breivik is neither. He was a self-made millionaire in his early 20’s, and compiled a coherent 1000+ page book explaining his actions, which, as it turns out, were indeed motivated by the anti-white male culture of the modern West. He spent years preparing for his act, and then carried out his complex and dangerous plan without a hitch. What he did might be offensive, but it wasn’t crazy. And I believe that we may have only seen the tip of the iceberg of those like him.

There has been report after report in recent years about the plight of poor American whites, and still the “elites” do nothing. The reports about the alarming jump in suicides from this demo? It wasn’t worthy of attention. The recent reports about the dramatic fall in the life expectancy for poor white women? Not an issue. The epidemic of black on white crime? Nobody cares. And every day, people become angrier and angrier.

It is absolutely inexcusable and irresponsible that no attention is being paid to these issues. It is disgusting and morally reprehensible, and it reveals the deep hypocrisy the American system. Unless a sea change in the mentality of the political class happens, this whole situation cannot, and will not, end well.

In regards to my girlfriends: I need to think of myself, first and foremost. My own state of mind must be put in front of everyone else’s, and something tells me that I may have to re-orient myself in case something catastrophic happens. So be it.

In particular, I feel that I must separate myself from any celeb that willingly mixes with niggers. Considering the extreme hostility to blacks that exists in many white communities today, I think that this is a wise precaution. I already blacklisted Eliza Dushku and Doutzen Kroes, as well as everyone with an adopted black kid. Recently, the public reaction to Miley’s performance was a real eye opener. People really and truly don’t like race mixing right now. Not even a hint of it.

My girlfriends overestimate themselves if they believe that they will not be punished if the situation in the US deteriorates further. They most certainly will be. Hunger and fear drastically change people, so much so that what might be a mere annoyance one year could be grounds for revolution the next.

In particular, they seem to believe that I will continue to support them regardless of what they do, which is not the case. I am much stronger and more capable than they realize. Unlike so many of them, I am important because of who I am and what I am capable of, and not because of those around me or what might be in my bank account. Just as I changed to cure my lupus, so too can I change to meet whatever else life throws at me- and I will not long support a system that I believe to be threatening my state of mind and my future, if not my actual life. Just like everyone else.

It is stupefying to see celebs these days spending so much of their time in Africa, trying to fix what cannot be fixed over there, as all of the problems I just laid out are worsening at home. What are they thinking? They’re not, I guess.

The road underneath was quiet but unnerving.

It seemed as though I could hear each bit of gravel as it was passed over by the limousine’s tires.

“So, do you know the Swifts?” The driver inquired. He was a sweet man, but simple and old. I was sure that he couldn’t read my inner dialogue underneath my calm expression. Not that he tried, of course. His eyes- half covered by his green, worn out visor- were fixed on the uneven road ahead.

“Yeah, kind of. I’m a fan of Taylor’s music. She knows me from the internet. I give her advice.” I responded. This small talk was a nice reprieve from the mostly silent ride from the airport. It gave my mind something to do besides mental rehearsals for the moment that I would meet Taylor again.

I decided to continue the conversation, in the hopes that I could get information. Plus, he was nice.

“I’m actually a friend of many of Taylor’s friends. We all go back…“ How long have I known them? I didn’t know. “I’ve known them for about eight or nine years. I think.”

“So all of this is done over the internet then?”

“Um, yeah. I’ve never actually met them.”

“Ah, Ok, Ok. I figured that you were a musician or something.” He continued. “It’s amazing that you’ve known her for so long but have never seen her. Things were a lot different back when I was young.”

I smiled. Boy, did he not know the half of it.

“Do you know Taylor?” I asked.

“Me? Noooo no no.” He laughed. “I just take people to her house. I’ve never seen her.” He paused. “People say she’s nice, though. A friend of mine owns a coffee shop in town. He says that her mom stops by every now and then.”

“She’s nice?”

“Oh yes, yes. Most people here are nice.” He said. “Famous or not. It doesn’t matter. I’ve been taking people to the mansions here for forty years. Never had much of a problem.”

Good. Maybe I worry too much.

We got up to the security gate. As the driver talked with security, I turned my attention inward.

The flight to New Hampshire wasn’t bad at all. I’d never flown by myself before, but it was easy, especially since Taylor’s company prearranged and paid for everything for me. My concerns were more about what was coming, and how I should handle meeting Taylor- and if I should try to integrate myself further into her life or not.

After weeks of thinking, I still didn’t know.

I sighed, and looked out of the window to take in the sights. Taylor’s neighborhood was really beautiful.

The most impressive thing was the endless green- the grass, the flowers and the trees. It was amazing. I’ve lived my whole life in cramped suburban neighborhoods with no space for such things. Here, each property was huge in every way. Each mansion seemed to have it’s own small prairie, and they all had beautiful, enormous trees. This was truly a world apart.

The driver stopped the limo after a short drive to the front door. I stepped out and looked around. The lush grass looked even brighter and more beautiful outside the car. This was so, so different from any neighborhood I had ever been in. Outside, the openness of the neighborhood was powerful.

The driver handed me my bags. I thanked him and fished a crinkled twenty out of my pocket for a tip. As usual, I had to visually separate the green bill from the bundle of kleenex I always carry with me. The foliage here is pretty, but potentially very dangerous to someone with allergy and asthma problems.

“Here.” I handed him the bill. “Thanks again for the ride.”

“Anytime! Just give me a ring when you need to leave.” He smiled and scurried back to his limo, leaving me alone with my bags and thoughts.
I looked up at the mansion. It was certainly big, but it was welcoming. It wasn’t like those imposing, hidden mansions in Lake Forest back home. This house actually looked like a place you could have fun in.

I started up the stairs to the door, and stopped at the doorbell.

I was sure that Taylor wouldn’t be angry about the mix up, but I was worried that she would simply take her phone back and then force me out. She clearly loves me, but I couldn’t forget how startled and icy she was when I first called her. But then again… maybe a physical separation would be for the best for us in the end. We shall see.

I touched the doorbell, running my finger over it. Then I pushed it in.

I heard a chime, and then the stomping of women’s shoes inside, coming towards the door. The girl was young and athletic… but it wasn’t Taylor. Taylor moves lighter than this. I wonder…

The door opened.

It was Ashley Greene.

“Hi Tom.” She chirped, clearly happy to see me.

I was surprised, but that quickly turned to warmth. I smiled. “Ashley! Hi! How are you?” I asked.

She smiled back. “Good! Come in!” She led the way. As she walked back into the house, I studied her. She was wearing shorts, and a green t-shirt with no bra. Her black hair was back in a ponytail. I watched her legs move as she walked.

She led me from the foyer to a huge and modern living room with green chairs and a massive TV. There were big windows surrounding us so I could clearly see the foliage outside, and off in the distance, the ocean. The view was beautiful.

We sat down facing each other in the chairs.

“Ash, wow, I didn’t expect to see you here.” I said.

“Yeah, Taylor didn’t think she could make it back in time to see you from the concert. That’s why she asked me to be here for you.” She reached down into her handbag and pulled out her phone. When she bent down, I caught a glimpse of her nipples through the neck of her shirt. She tapped the phone a few times. “Taylor’s mom just texted me before you got here. She says that Taylor should be here in, like, an hour.”

“Ok. Cool. Thanks Ash.” I opened up and took a risk. “You’re really cute.”

She laughed and smiled a little. “Thanks.” She studied me. “Taylor was right. Your hair really is fluffy and fine.”

“Thanks.” I wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation. Is this girl my friend? My wife? Someone I don’t know?

She seemed at a loss as well. “So…” she sighed and leaned back. “What do you think of Taylor’s home?” She asked.

“It’s nice. I like it. It’s a lot bigger than the homes I’m used to.”

“Yeah, it’s nice. This is the first time I’ve been here too. The view is beautiful.” She looked at the greenery outside the windows. She was right.

She turned to me. “Do you need anything? Are you hungry? I was just going to make a salad for lunch when you got here.”

“Sure! Sounds good. I’ll make one too.” I took another risk, and said these sentences without actively suppressing my lisps. It felt a little more natural.

She raised her eyebrows at me, but otherwise didn’t seem surprised. She smiled again. She was clearly more comfortable with that kind of stuff than the people back home. “The kitchen is this way.”

I followed her again while calculating how I could make the best of this situation. It would be really nice to talk to her, but how could I get the most information out of her? What if I wanted to see her again? Would that even be a good idea? And… I know she loves me. Should I seduce her? Would I be betraying Taylor if I did, even though I’m not with her? A million questions and only one girl. And I was sure that she was thinking similar things, even if she wasn’t discussing them.

We went into the kitchen and made up quick salads with what was in Taylor’s fridges. I made a Caesar per family tradition. My sister and I had made a secret pact, half serious, to choose Caesar salads over all other types when eating out. I guess it provided a sense of stability in uncertain environments. I also grabbed a bottle of water. Ashley just threw together some greens.

Ashley turned to me. “Let’s eat upstairs. The view is even better on the second floor.”

She led me up a flight of stairs into a guest bedroom. Again, it seemed very open, with large windows and nice light green paint on the walls. It was clean and upscale. Nothing cheap in here.

We sat down on the bed and started to eat. And talk.

“Wow. It’s really you.” She said.

“Yeah, I know. Weird, huh?”

“I guess. You seem very normal, actually. It’s amazing.”

“Thanks. So do you.”

“Taylor told me everything… you know. About how you met and what you did.”

“Ok.” I was stuffing my face. I was hungry.

“I don’t think that she should’ve done that at the concert. I hope that she apologized to you.”

I stopped eating. “Apologized? For having sex with me? What do you mean? I’m like… I don’t know… her husband, right? I’m sure you understand.”

“That’s not quite what I meant. I mean, she should be apologizing for everything. For mixing you up and forcing you to come here.”

“We couldn’t mail each other our phones, though. I kind of had to come.”

“Yeah, but… maybe you shouldn’t be here. Sorry.” Her voice got quiet and trailed off.

I ignored her. What is else did she want me to do?

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the closet doors were open slightly. Was that?… It couldn’t be. I left my food and walked over. I opened the doors.

Yes! That was it! This was the dress that Taylor wore at the Easy A premiere!

“Um, you shouldn’t be going through Taylor’s stuff.” Ashley warned.

“I just had to see this. This is the prettiest dress I’ve ever seen.” I said. It still looked nice. I bet it hadn’t even been worn since then. If anything, the bright emerald dress looked even more striking in person.

“The moment I saw Taylor in this dress was the moment I knew I had to keep her. That was the turning point in our relationship. Without this, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

Ashley scowled at me. She walked over and closed the closet.

“Do you love me?” She retorted.

“What? Of course I do. Why wouldn’t you think so?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You haven’t said a word about us since you’ve been here.”

“I didn’t know what to say.” I stopped. “Besides, you have a boyfriend, right? So why the fuck do you care anyways?” Woah, I just snapped at her. Where did that come from?

“I love you.”

“I know. And I just said that, yes, I love you. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“I guess.”

“You guess? So what did you really want me to say?”

She hesitated. “Just what you said. I just wanted to know if you loved me. That’s all.”

We both stopped. There was dead silence in the house. All I could hear was the far off singing of a distant bird.

She kissed me. Hard. On the lips. I slipped my hand under her shirt and squeezed hard on her nipples.

She took her lips away from me. “Ohhhhhh!!” She cried. She wanted me. Bad. Almost as much as I wanted her- she was an actress. A hot one. One that I needed.

“Take me, but do it quick.” She said. “We’re not supposed to be doing this.” Where had I heard that before? I couldn’t remember.

I fucked her as hard and as fast as I could. It was brutal yet beautiful. Her screams echoed throughout the empty house. Each thrust of mine caused an emotional explosion in her.

“OH YES!!!” She screamed. “This is AMAZING!!”

I couldn’t catch my breath long enough to respond.

Her nipples were super hard. They almost hurt as I glided over her. Her soft legs made thrusting so, so easy.

After a minute- or ten, I don’t know- I could feel myself ready to burst within her, and I could feel her ready to climax herself. We were both out of control.

But wait… somewhere, I could hear the constant ring of a doorbell. Was that… Taylor?

“Oh, FUCK.” I quickly silenced Ashley by covering her mouth with my hand.

Her surprised cloudy green eyes locked onto mine. When she orgasmed she unconsciously bit down on my palm.

“OWWW!! Stop it!!” I yelled. She released my hand and screamed loudly. Then I orgasmed too.

“UNFFF. AHH!!! FUCK! FUCK.”

Ashley knew Taylor was at the door. “Quick, get your fucking clothes on!” She thundered.

“Ow, my hand!”

“You could have just told me, you know!”

“Well, you didn’t have to be so fucking loud!”

“Get dressed! What are we going to tell Taylor?”

I didn’t know. God, why did it ALWAYS have to be like this for me? Maybe leaving this circus wouldn’t be so bad.

After I got my clothes on, my hand started to bleed. Rivulets of blood were staining Taylor’s pristine carpet.

“FUCK. Where’s the bathroom? Where are bandaids?”

“This way!” Ashley led me into the bathroom. I held my bloody hand over the sink and stopped the bleeding. Then I quickly cleaned the cut, disinfected it, and slapped a bandaid on it. Just like high school. It was over in an instant. When we both turned to leave we saw Taylor standing in the door, her mouth open.

“What…” she started. “What… is going on? What happened?”

Ashley and I just looked at each other. Her green shirt was splattered with blood.

“Ummmmm, hi Taylor. Ashley and I were eating when she accidentally cut me. So we’re just trying to get me fixed up.”

“Oh… .” She was still stunned. “I just heard a lot of screaming and shouting. Then when I got upstairs I noticed all the blood. Are you… OK?”

“Um yeah. I’m fine, thanks. Nice to see you!”

“Yeah… nice to see you too.” She said incredulously. “Thanks for coming.”

I gave her a thumbs up with my one useable hand.

“Wow… let me, um, get something to clean up all the blood.” She left.

Ashley and I looked at each other.

“Sorry.” She said.

“It’s OK. I guess we shouldn’t have done that.”

“Yeah, I guess not.” She replied. “Listen, Tom. Taylor loves you a lot and I know that you want Taylor. But I don’t think you should try.”

“Why not? You have a boyfriend. Why shouldn’t I get a girlfriend?”

“You should get a girlfriend. But… not her.” She frowned. “It wouldn’t be fair to her. I mean, she doesn’t want to have to deal with stuff like this for the rest of her life. I mean, what would happen if you were to meet your other girlfriends? You know, like Kristen or Emma?”

“Emma? Emma Stone?”

“No, Emma Watson.”

“Oh.” I didn’t ask which Kristen she was referring to. I think she meant Stewart. I had to admit, Ashley had a point. But maybe it wasn’t good enough.

“I think it would be fine with Taylor.” I snapped, to her surprise. “Taylor is smart enough to handle a real relationship with me. And I can handle things and keep my secrets.” I steeled myself. “I need a future. I wouldn’t want her so bad if life in general wasn’t so extremely fucked up right now.”

“Don’t do it.” She shook her head. “I want to protect you, too.”

I heard Taylor’s long legs clumping up the stairs in her heels. I mouthed “Thank you” to Ashley as we walked out of the bathroom.

After an hour of scrubbing and small talk the stains were gone, except from Ashley’s shirt and my pants. Ash just threw away her whole outfit and took what she wanted from one of Taylor’s closets. Amazing, I thought, how the 1% lives. They were good people, but still…

After changing her wardrobe, Ashley said that she had to leave. “My flight is in an hour. I need to get back.”

After saying her goodbyes to Taylor, she squeezed my good hand and smiled. “It was nice to meet you, Tom.”

I smiled back. “You too, Ashley. I’ll see you later.”

With that, she left.

I turned to look at Taylor. Her dress was wet from the cleaning solution. She still hadn’t removed her sunglasses from the top of her head. The big frames were a solid green plastic, which was her style these days. They looked like a green version of those Keds glasses she sold on her website.

“Well, that was exciting.” Taylor said. “You know Tom, for someone I’ve only met twice, you’ve sure caused a lot of drama.”

“Yeah… but that’s OK. We’ll get through it.” I hugged Taylor with my good hand. She smiled.

“Oh, before I forget, let me get you your phone.” She disappeared upstairs and returned with it.

I opened my bags and found Taylor’s phone.

As we switched phones, she reached into her back pocket and handed me a plane ticket. “Here. I called the limo service.”

That wasn’t what I wanted, and I’m sure that she saw that. “Tom…” She frowned. “What else am I supposed to do?”

“Think outside of the box, that’s what. You know the situation. If you let me stay here, I will be yours forever. If you force me out now, I will eventually leave you. Of course.”

“You just make this soooooooo hard. Wow. You just don’t stop, do you?”

“You… are my ticket to a better and happier life. Not this.” I held up the ticket she just gave me. “I deserve a better life than the one I’ve been given. Which you know.” I straightened myself. This trip had opened my eyes. Now that I knew how Taylor actually lived, and what other possibilities in life were available to me, there was no turning back. “I will find a better life for myself somehow. If it isn’t with you, it will be with someone else. It is your choice.” Deep inside, I could feel the green eyed monster stirring. I didn’t want to go back. Not to my too small bedroom in my cramped house. I deserved better.

“And…” I continued. “I love you. Very very much. Of course.”

Taylor took me by surprise. She quickly snatched the ticket from my hand and looked at it. I almost instinctively held onto it.

I looked at the ticket with her. Once again, the green highlights told the story. If I was to make the flight, I would need to leave right away.

She sighed.

“FINE!!!!!!” She yelled. “You want to stay here with me? FINE. But don’t you DARE fuck any more of my friends in my house!” She stopped. “I’m not stupid, Tom.” She looked down. “And you stole my naked pictures, didn’t you?”

“Yes. You are correct on both counts.” I replied. “But… if you were me, you would have done both. I mean, I thought you didn’t like me! You never talk to me or anything!”

“I would never steal anyone’s nude pictures! I’m so glad I switched phones with you. Now I know what kind of person you are.”

Hmmm? “What?”

“I did it on purpose. I just wanted to see…”

My mind quickly mapped everything out- the gallery that was perfectly suited to me, the way that Taylor expected me to fuck her that morning… and wait, didn’t Ashley say that Taylor had forced me to come here? I didn’t quite understand what she was referring to at the time. But now I did.

“You…” I grinned. “Are good.”

She glowered at me. “I have to be. I’m with you.” She continued. “I had those pictures ready in case I ever met you in person. So when I met you in the hallway, I knew that I had my chance. So…”

“You seduced me.”

“I was going to simply give you the pictures after we had sex, but then the opportunity came up to test you and… I did it.”

I looked into her eyes.

We kissed.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“I love you more.”

“No, I love you more!”

We giggled and hugged.

I kissed her. “I love you, Taylor. Smarty.”

“You’re smarter than I am, Mr. Wizard.” She stopped. “I know you love me, but are you really ready to live with me?”

I thought about what had just happened. I thought about Ashley. “No… no I’m not.”

She nodded. “Here.” She turned on my phone and seeded her name and number in my contacts. “When you’re ready… but only then.”

I understood. “What if I’m never ready?”

“Then that’s OK. We’ll just keep doing what we’ve done before.”

I nodded.

I hugged her and took the ticket, and then I opened the door… with my injured hand. It didn’t hurt anymore.

Outside, I could see the old limo driver standing by his car, waiting for me. All I could see is green. He was pulling down his visor to block out the bright sun.

“It’s bright out there… here, take these.” Taylor handed me her sunglasses.

I took them. They looked clunky. The thick green plastic made them look like a child’s toy- but they worked.

I put them on, grabbed my bags, and walked out.

I turned around. “Bye.” I said.

“Bye Tom.”

I descended the stairs and turned around again. The door to Taylor’s house was closed. I didn’t mind.

I handed my bags to the driver.

He laughed when he saw my ridiculous glasses. And the weird smile on my face. And my disheveled hair. And the blood on my clothes. And the huge bandage on my hand.

“What the hell happened in there?” He laughed again.

“Oh, nothing much. I just… cut myself a little. It’s OK.”

“Sure, sure. It happens.” He didn’t want to know, I guess. As I stepped into the vehicle, I took one last look at the immense greenery surrounding me. It really was amazing.

I then thought of how great it was that I had Taylor’s number. Something… was going to grow from this. I wasn’t sure what, though. Time will tell.
I stepped into the limo and closed the door.

“Where to?” The driver asked.

“Home.”