Thinkin' Bout Something

007

I pushed myself a little closer to him taking over what he had started. My hands held tighter on the swing chains until I thought they would fall off. He took my hands and pulled me onto his swing and deepened the kiss. My fingers ran effortlessly through his hair. I didn’t dare open my eyes, in fear it would all blow away.

He broke it first. He just sat there not saying anything and I pushed the hair back form his eyes as he looked at me. “I’m sorry.”

“You apologize an awful lot.” I whispered as if anyone could hear us or if I spoke to loud the night would break into tiny pieces.

Taylor laughed a little and looked down at his feet. “I can’t leave the baby though.”

“No one asked you to leave anyone, but that is why I wanted to talk to you. I know whatever I say will probably come back to me and I will be accused of something almost like treason or blasphemy.” I cleared my throat as he wrapped his arms around my waist resting his head on my shoulder. “Natalie and I talked for a few minutes tonight.” At this point I felt like an ass again, but there is a fine line between right and wrong and I was determined to have him know what she said about him and their relationship.

“She told me she didn’t really love you, that the baby was the reason you two were still together anyways. She said she would grow to love you, and the Hanson fame and fortune wouldn’t be too bad to have coming in as well.” I spoke rapidly. Unfortunately, since we had been friends for so long, he learned to keep up and potentially decipher everything I could say.

“She said all that?” He looked at me in disbelief.

“I wouldn’t lie to you Taylor, not even if it would make you happier. If I had any reason to ruin anything between you and her I would have left that night with you.” I placed my hand on his cheek before placing a tiny kiss on his lips.

“I know you wouldn’t lie to me Ave.” He shifted slightly and I got up, returning to my own swing, looking at my feet in silence. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Do what’s right Taylor. I can’t let you abandon that baby though.”

“No,” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t give up on the baby.” The word still felt foreign on his tongue.

He stood up and walked around behind my swing where he grabbed onto the chains and pulled me back, whispering in my ear, “Happy Birthday by the way.”, before pushing me forward. I smiled to myself.

After a few minutes of being pushed on the swing I jumped off and landed gracefully a few feet away from the swing. He made his way over to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. I let myself snuggle closer to him as we walked back to his car. He opened the door and I took my seat.

“What do you want to do for your birthday?” He asked before turning the radio up a little.

“We can go out.” I shrugged.

“You’ll be 18.” He smiled.

“Wow, you’re good at this.” I joked.

“Nat was telling me about an all ages bar we could go to.” He suggested.

“What kind of bar?”

“It’s a surprise.” He laughed.

It was pointless to fight with Tay over something he is hell bent on keeping secret. It was something I loved about him. So I leaned back in my seat and sang along with ‘Semi Charmed Kind of Life’

He dropped me off at the hotel and grabbed my hand before I made it fully out of the car. I looked back at him and smiled as he place his lips on mine again. I didn’t want to try and stand up knowing full certain that my knees would buckle and I would either look stupid and fall over or not be able to walk and stand there, a personal statue for the hotel. “I’ll see you later.” He whispered against my jaw line.

“Good night.” I whispered back and somehow made it back to the hotel room where Micha and Ellis were patiently waiting for me.

“And where the hell were you for an hour and a half?” Micha questioned.

“With Tay.” I said.

“And?” Ellis prodded.

“And what?”

“What happened? Did you tell him? What is going on?”

“I told him everything and everything will be revealed to you two in good time.” I smirked.

“You’re kidding? You’re going to make us wait, really?”

I didn’t say anything. I walked over to the bathroom and shut the door behind me. I let the water run in the shower for a few minutes before getting in. The warm water ran over my skin as I washed my hair with the shampoo and conditioner I brought from home knowing full well hotel toiletries were the worst things on earth. I then formed a soapy lather with my Cucumber melon spice body wash. I could faintly hear Micha and Ellis in the main room discussing what could have happened tonight and I laughed a little. I rinsed the soap off and stepped out.

I brushed my teeth and dried my hair before taking out my contacts and washing my face. I slipped my glasses on and pulled my tank top down and my shorts up a little more. I looked myself over in the mirror and smiled. A full real smile. The first in a long time.

Micha and Ellis were already in their beds and I slipped onto the cot. “So?” They said in unison.

“Good night.” I chuckled as I pulled the covers up over my shoulder and turned away from them. I then felt blindly for the light switch after I put my glasses down.

A few hours later there was an uncomfortable feeling that pulled my from my slumber. I sighed a little and pushed my glasses onto my face. There at the foot of the bed were the two of them. “Did we wake you?”

“Sort of.”

“Good.” Ellis said before sitting on her own bed. “You needed to get up anyways, Ike and Zac said Tay and Nat will be her in a little bit. They want to spend the day with you.”

I threw up a little in my mouth when I heard her name and remembered everything that happened last night, and how I had to be on my best behavior and keep my hands of her fiance. “When?”

“In like twenty minutes.” Micha stated with a slight smirk.

“Fuck!” I said as I jumped out of the small cot and slid on the floor cracking my knee off of the end table. “Shit!” I yelled louder. This caused my two best friends to fall over on their beds laughing.

I made my way into the bathroom and brushed my hair, teeth, put in my contacts, do my makeup. I riffled through my bag and found my denim shorts and purple plaid tank top. I put them on and checked myself over in the mirror. I clasped my bracelet and necklace before walking out the door.

In the matter of time I was in there the four people showed up and were patiently waiting for me. “You look awesome!” Micha yelled excitedly as she stood up. Always one for adventure she was already to go within minutes of me getting up.

“Thank you.” I said.

“Happy Birthday Ave!” Natalie giggled almost as equally excited as Micha.

“Thank you Nat.” I smiled back.

“Yeah Happy Birthday.” Ike and Zac said simultaneously. They each handed me card and gave me a quick hug.

“Thank you guys!” I laughed as I grabbed my bag. “So, where are we going?”

“Out to lunch now, then probably for a drive, then to the bar I told you about.” Taylor said mentally kicking himself for letting that last part come out.

“When did you tell her about the bar Tay?” Natalie asked.

“What bar?” I asked myself quickly.

“I thought I told you yesterday morning.” He answered.

“You didn’t mention anything.” I said.

“Well, cool, all right, surprise!” He stammered and smiled at my quick fix.

“When we get there I will put my ‘oh my god you guys this is too much, you shouldn’t have,’ surprise face on.” I joked.

We piled into the car and drove to the restaurant. Had our lunch then proceeded to drive around Atlanta. At this time it was now eight o clock. We pulled up to the strange little building with a few neon lights outside and the typical beer lights in the windows. I then noticed why Taylor wanted to keep in a secret. It was a karaoke bar.

He nudged me when I turned to look at him and he beamed knowing he did something pretty awesome. “Really?” I said pleased with the fact that it was something so simple yet, right up my alley.

“Really!” Natalie said.

We finally got inside and took a booth at the west end of the room. In this place age limits were a bit taboo. If you are old enough to hold your liquor, you’re old enough to drink it. The waitress made her way over and Ike ordered for me before I could myself. “She wants Three Wise Men.” He addressed the waitress with an amused smile on his face.

“Ike..” I started.

“Just do it.” He retorted.

The woman was back in a matter of minutes and I was presented with three shot glasses. One filled with Jack Daniels, one with Johnny Walker, and one with Jim Beam. I shook my head, I was always opposed to drinking but I thought maybe tonight it would be all right. Natalie was eyeing me and Taylor was smirking to himself.

I took the first shot, chased it with the next, and followed it with the final one. The alcohol burned my throat as it made its way to my stomach. I made a face that got a rise out of everyone. “Another?” Ike asked.

“Sure. Why not.”

“Miss?” The waitress came over. “Can we get a few more of those?” He flashed her that pretty smile of his and she nodded.

“This is going to be a bad idea.” Zac said with a smile. “I can’t wait to see how this plays out.”

“Shut up Zac!” I mouthed. “I can handle this as much as you can.”

“Doubt it.” He said finishing off his first beer.

Micha shook her head. “Ave doesn’t drink, but she definitely can. We’ve only seen it twice.” She recalled.

After a three more rounds of Three Wise Men, I was feeling buzzed. I stood up and pulled Micha and Ellis with me to do karaoke. It was solely their idea, and once I had the motivation of My three main men, Jack, Jim, and Johnny, as well as my three main real men, I was on the stage. Micha chose the first song and we sang, “Wannabe” by the spice girls. I did the rap, and somehow it came out better when I was without any inhibitions.

Ellis was next to chose and she picked the classic, “I Want You Back” by Nsync.

Then it was my turn. I couldn’t decide. I finally settled on “Two Princes” by the Spin Doctors. I danced around and sang. Once the song was over I made my way back to the booth where another set of trifecta sat helpless to my consumption.

“Ave?” Tay asked.

“Hmm?” I said not trying to make full on eye contact, I knew I was drunk.

“Natalie and I are leaving.” He pointed over to the girl I had been trying to avoid all night.

“Okay.” I said before walking over to him. “I’ll see you two tomorrow at the wedding rehearsal right?”

“Um, of course, its our wedding.” Natalie said as she gave me a dirty look.

“Right.” I said.

“Classy move.” I heard Ellis yell from the booth.

“Shut up!” I yelled back.

“Walk us out?” He asked me. I followed him out the door and onto the sidewalk where Natalie huffed off down the street to get the car. “Are you going to be okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I said resting my head on his shoulder. “I can’t believe you are still having a rehearsal dinner.” I stumbled on my own words slurring bits and pieces and I felt the blood rush to my cheeks.

“Who knows.” He shrugged. “I may not be able to keep my mouth shut much longer, I almost slipped up this morning.”

“Yeah you did.” I nodded and leaned against the wall. “I love you Tay.”

“I love you too Ave.”

Natalie was at the curb rolling the window down. “You ready?”

Tay nodded his head and pulled me into a quick hug his back facing her car. “Tomorrow. I have something planned and I promise you, something will work out.”

Xxx

The next morning, I couldn’t remember the rest of the night because someone with a very sneaky side had me loaded up with The Three Best Buddies. I opened my eyes and immediately wanted to close them again.

“Morning Sunshine.” Ellis giggled. “How are you feeling?”

“Eeeehhh.” I moaned.

“Aww, what happened to your buddies?”

“They are wonderful caring gentlemen at night, but in the morning they are two faced mother fuckers.” I answered, shifted, listening to Micha and her laugh.

I worked my hangover off slowly and by six I was ready to go to the venue they were holding the rehearsal. I was dressed up in my floral sundress and Micha and Ellis were in a plaid dress and a black dress respectively. I opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief as the air-conditioning wrapped me in its embrace.

They lead me to our table and I smiled over at Tay. He smiled back and then took Nat’s hand. I shrugged it off, somehow something was going to give. Once we ate and they ran through the plans and event set up Taylor made his way back to his seat. He took his champagne glass in his hand and tapped the knife against it three times gathering everyone’s attention.

“Ladies and Gentleman, Family, Friends,” He spoke loudly. “I want to thank you all for coming, but I have something I need to say.” He cleared his throat. “Natalie, I will always love you, you’re the mother of my child.” The woman next to him smiled up at him and blushed. “But, I can’t marry you.” There was a collective gasp and I could see Natalie starting to stand up. “I won’t marry you. I love someone else.” He said as he downed the rest of the champagne and set the glass down.

His movements were quick but he walked over to me and took my hand. “I love you Avelynne, I told you I was going to do something that I thought was right… I hope you wore comfortable shoes,” He looked down at my feet and I laughed softly. “Because we need to literally run away.” He motioned over his shoulder to the enraged Natalie who was making her way over here herself ready to fight….
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Longest chapter I have ever written... I'm pretty proud of myself. <3

rants??raves?? give it to me baby uh huh uh huh