a good one in theory. In practice, that was another thing entirely. He just had to find the right moment and the right words. However, every time Greg thought about saying something before Chemistry, he chickened out at the last minute. After Chemistry, they headed to the student union, but knowing the others would surely show up, he suggested they go to the student center instead.
Even there, he kept thinking about what to say and how to say it. Tay, we want you to come, but can you not be all ‘you’ when you get there?
It wasn’t helping that Taylor had so many stories about her amazing time with Alpha Chi the night before. The scavenger hunt had clearly been a smashing success. It would obviously be the talk of Alpha Chi for years to come. It certainly was the talk of Taylor Grayson’s life all of Wednesday.
They studied some, and she even talked him into studying a little for the certification. He hadn’t heard anything about the job, so he figured that was a royal bust. She was convinced he needed to call them and ask. He was convinced that would be a very bad idea.
By Wednesday night when they got to theater, Greg was rethinking his entire life. He wasn’t going to get the job. He wasn’t going to get the girl. All of his friends would hate him by Saturday. Yes, things were going about the way they always did.
Professor Leigh went through the meanings of various camera angles, and Greg had no idea there could be so many choices. In fact, Professor Leigh had gone so far as to say that everything you see or hear on a film has been carefully chosen by the director to make you feel something. He’d never thought about it like that before, that someone was choosing all of that. It was an interesting concept.
At the end of class, they watched their first assignment film, Kate and Leopold. It was a romantic comedy with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, and as they watched, Greg made notes about the types of films he could use as a comparison. There was a time travel element, and of course, the main two actors. He wondered if romantic comedy was enough of a commonality. Probably not. He struck through that as on the screen the Meg Ryan character came up onto the rooftop to find Jackman’s character waiting with a violinist, a bazillion candles, and a perfectly prepared meal for the two of them. Of course it was romantic and completely unattainably ridiculously over-the-top.
Greg glanced over at Taylor before dropping his gaze and shifting. Don’t even go there. She’s going to hook up with some Alpha Chi-approved hunk who can get something like that to work not some chump like you. He shifted again and dragged in a breath. Wasn’t Meg Ryan in Top Gun? She wasn’t the lead with Tom Cruise. That was Kelly… somebody or other. Careful to keep it under the desk, Greg pulled out his phone and in seconds, he had his answer. Yes. She was Goose’s wife. Of course.
The memories of the other movie overtook even the one on the big screen. He remembered them playing and singing at the piano. They had a child, which somehow he hadn’t fit together with how their story had ended. Strange how it all felt like pieces of his own life instead of some movie he had watched a dozen or more times with his mom. It had always been one of her favorites.
He wrote, Top Gun in block letters and put stars next to it. This wouldn’t be as bad as he had thought.
As Kate’s ex and her brother tried to explain how and why she had to make the insane choice of going back in time to be with Leopold, Taylor slid her hand to the back of her head and rubbed there. It had been a long day after an even longer night. Her only prayer was that Hannah would be out partying tonight. That couch was getting old in a flat-hurry.
Life had come to feel very heavy in the past 24-hours. It hadn’t helped that she’d had to give Greg the full ‘Alpha Chi is the most wonderful thing on the planet’ routine practically all day long. The last thing she wanted was for him to start thinking she was a big idiot for not being able to make her life work. Why couldn’t it be like it