FATHER OF THE YEAR
TAYLOR
For the past several days, Taylor had hit the ground running, getting back to work. Never mind that Mel had to force him into it. "GO TO WORK," she had finally said. "I am fine, I know where you are if I need you. Just go to work. I would much rather you go than be here and on the phone all day, talking business. Bye."
And so the next morning, he had gone to work.
Several mornings later, he discovered that Mel had left the house from right underneath him, informing him that she was spending a day in the office, as well. The fact that he could stop in her office and see her before he got on with the rest of his day reminded him of old times and made him smile. Everyone always said it was a bad idea to work with your significant other, but he loved that Mel had an office there.
Stopping for his morning Starbucks run, he opted to go in since they'd had a penchant for getting his order wrong lately. As he walked in the door, he beamed at the sight of his favorite barista behind the bar. Nikki was a petite girl with long, blonde hair and an infectious smile and had he been single, he would have totally gone for her. But she'd been his barista forever now and what he felt for her was completely platonic--and coffee. But he always flirted with her and he'd come to the conclusion that a little harmless flirting never hurt anyone--and it especially didn't hurt the correctness of his coffee order. He used Mel's relationship with Jason as his reasoning. He felt like a bastard for it, but he didn't care. Mel knew Nikki, too, so wasn't like he was keeping her a secret or anything.
"Taylor!" Nikki said, smiling when she saw him. "How are you this morning?"
"Long time, no see," he smiled, leaning against the counter. "You disappeared on me, what gives?"
Nikki's smile widened and she flashed her left hand at him. "I got married."
"What?" He said, smiling. "That's awesome, congratulations."
"Thank you. We just got back from our honeymoon. I took a few days off."
"I noticed. Where'd you go?"
"The Bahamas. It was so much fun, I wasn't ready to come back."
"Maybe you weren't, but I was." He leaned over the counter and murmured, "You're the only one who can make my drink right."
"I heard that!" Jessica said loudly from behind her glasses as she mixed an order for the drive thru. Jessica stood a tad shorter than Nikki and sported long red hair and trendy glasses. The two were an adorable pair of best friends. They made Tay smile every morning.
"I love you, Jess!" Tay responded, a cheesy grin on his face.
Jess cut eyes at him. "Mmhmm," she muttered sarcastically.
Tay's eyes met Nikki's again. "I'm dying here, you gotta work your magic."
Nikki smiled. "I'm on it."
As Nikki and Jess busied themselves, Tay smiled and leaned across the bar again. "Hey, you wanna know a secret?" He hissed.
Both Nikki's and Jess's heads whipped around and he motioned them over. "You gotta keep it quiet, though, we're not ready to go public with it yet, though we'll probably have to really soon. Anyway, Mel's pregnant."
The girls' eyes widened, along with their smiles. "No way!" Jess said.
Tay smiled. "Yep. Sixteen weeks today."
"Today?" Jess repeated.
"Today."
"Well, I gotta make her something, then," Nikki said. "Is she in the office today?"
"Yeah."
"I thought so. I saw her Jeep pass by earlier," Jess spoke up. "You're running a little late today, aren't you?"
"Yeah, yeah," Tay smirked. "How would I function every morning without you to keep me in line?"
"Beats me," Jess answered.
"I can't make her her usual," Nikki said. "Unless I just pour her a cup of decaf coffee."
"Nah," Tay disagreed. "Make her something fun. Something pumpkin and cream-based, I don't know. Things are different with her lately, like--I dunno."
Both girls looked at him. "Good or bad?" Nikki asked.
"Good! Good, don't get me wrong. Just different. I think the maternal instincts are starting to kick in. It's kind of adorable. But don't tell her I said that."
As the girls finished up his order, he changed the subject. "So when are you girls gonna come out with us one night? I've only been asking for months now."
"And do what?" Nikki asked.
"I don't know. Whatever it is you do when you go out. Dinner, drinks, who knows? Hey, bring your husbands, we can make it a group thing."
"I am NOT bringing my husband ANYWHERE," Jess spoke up suddenly.
"What?" Tay said. "Come on. Zac would be disappointed if he missed a chance to trade one-liners with you."
"Oh please, I win every time and he knows it. But, yanno, maybe if he started drinking coffee he could trade one-liners with me every day like you do instead of just coming in by proxy whenever he catches a ride."
"Good luck with that. And, besides, you don't HAVE to bring your husband, it was just a suggestion."
"Well, tell Zac not to bring his wife and it's a date."
Tay and Nikki shared matching sets of wide eyes and Nikki laughed. "Oh my god..."
"Jess, do you have a crush on my brother?"
"Please, like it's a secret or anything," Jess confessed.
Tay felt himself blushing, not really sure why. "Well this has definitely turned into an interesting morning, that's for sure."
"Oh, it's nothing," Jess assured him. "I just think he's hot and I admire him from afar. It's no biggie, really."
Tay nodded, narrowing his eyes at her. "Okay. Okay. I got you." When his order was ready, he tipped both the girls handsomely the way he normally did and then picked his drinks up off the bar. "Well it's been fun but it's off to work. Thank you ladies, we'll pick this back up tomorrow." He eyed Jess at that statement and smiled at Nikki before walking out the door.
He shook his head as he walked to his vehicle. Tulsa sure had some characters and he was glad to know them. He loved this town.
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Walking into Mel's office, she smiled at him as he sat at her desk across from her. "Brought you something," he smiled back as he sat her Starbucks cup in front of her.
Her smile widened. "Aww, sweetie, that's so sweet of you. Thank you." Then she frowned. "But you know I can't have coffee."
He flashed an award-winning smile at her. "It's not coffee."
Tasting it, she smiled. "That is so good. Kinda hit the spot this morning. Were the girls there?"
"They were on it this morning," he said, smiling. "Nikki got married."
"Did she?" Mel grinned. "That's great, good for her."
"Yep, and Jess has a crush on Zac."
"You didn't know that?"
"You did?"
"I'm a woman, are you kidding?"
He scowled at her for a moment before he smiled again. "I told them you were pregnant. They're excited for you."
Mel smiled. "That's nice of them. They're sweet, I like them." She took a sip of her hot drink again and said to Tay, "I love you."
Caught off guard at the randomness of it, he blushed a little and smiled. "Uh, I love you, too."
"No, I mean I REALLY love you. You've been taking such good care of me, making sure life is as normal as possible for me. Coffee that's not coffee from Starbucks, juice in wine glasses--you're too good to me, I don't know how I could ever repay you."
"You're having my child, I'm pretty sure that makes us even," he laughed. Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Look, I want to show you something." Pulling the picture up on his phone, he leaned across the desk and handed it to Mel. "What do you think of that?"
Taking the phone from his hand, she looked at it, confused. "A backpack?"
"It's not just any backpack," he said, his eyes glittering. "It's a diaper bag."
She looked up at him like he was crazy. "What? No, I'm not carrying that thing around, that's tacky."
"No, it's actually not!" He came around the deck and leaned over on it, swiping the phone with his thumb to show her the other pictures. "It's called an Okkatot and it sits upright and you open it up and it looks like a little closet. It has compartments for everything, including a bottle cooler which I thought was really neat. Anyway, it has its own changing mat and everything so you can change her anywhere when needed."
"Her?" Mel looked up at him.
"Well, I mean, you say you're convinced it's a girl...anyway, the reviews on it are excellent."
Mel smiled at him as she took the phone from his hand again. "When did all this come about?"
"Sitting at a red light this morning."
He watched her face as she scrolled and read through what he had in hopes that she might be on board with it. Finally, she nodded her head. "I mean, some reviews say they found it a little big, but I think that just depends on what all you're packing in it, right? It seems pretty handy. Seems like something that might interest me, I'd give it a whirl."
Tay beamed at her response. "Good. Cause I already ordered two of them."
"Two? For what?"
"One for you and one for me."
Mel laughed. "One for me and one that'll never be used."
"That would offend me if that were actually true. I'm gonna be father of the year. Ike and Zac will come to ME for advice, you wait and see."
Smiling, Mel put his phone down and took his face in her hands, bringing him close to her. "I have no doubt in my mind that this child will have the best father any child could ever have." Then she kissed him and looked into his eyes. "But I have work to do so I need you to get out of my office before I tear your clothes off right here. I'm feeling exceptionally friendly this morning and a few hours apart will probably be helpful."
He kissed her one more time before he left her office, smiling as he walked to the back of the building. He even whistled a little bit. He felt excellent that morning, as if he could take on the world and he felt ready for anything that could be thrown at him that day. Whatever it was, he would conquer it.
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MEL
An hour later, Mel hadn't realized that Taylor had left his cell phone on her desk until she heard it vibrate against the wood. She picked it up and turned it over and saw 'Kari' across the screen. Narrowing her eyes in curiosity, she did something she knew she shouldn't have done, an invasion of Tay's privacy.
She answered it.
"Hello, Taylor's phone, this is Melody!" She tried to be as cheerful as possible.
The voice on the other end sounded confused. "Um, did you say this was Taylor's phone?"
"Yes, I did."
"Um...is he...available?"
"No...that's why I have his phone."
"Oh. Okay." And then the girl hung up.
Mel's blood boiled and she saw nothing but red.
A firm death grip on his phone, Mel marched out of her office and straight to the back of the studio where she could see all three brothers through the window, apparently in deep discussion. Mel swung the studio door open and barely glanced at Isaac and Zac out of the corner of her eye as they sat in a couple of chairs off to the left of the small room. Instead, she focused all her attention on chunking Tay's cell phone directly at the wall he leaned his shoulder against, shattering into pieces right next to his head.
Flinching and ducking at the impact, he looked at her, wide-eyed. "Holy shit, Mel! What the fuck?"
"YOU LYING ASSHOLE!" She screamed at him. She had an audience. She didn't care. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT, HOW DARE YOU?"
He looked confused. Genuinely confused. "What the fuck are you talking about? Whose was--was that--?" He started feeling around his pockets, realizing they were empty. "Is that MY phone? Christ, Mel, how many phones am I gonna go through this year?"
"AS MANY AS IT TAKES FOR YOU TO NOT BE A LYING BASTARD!"
As Tay bent over to pick up the pieces of his now-deceased phone, he was silent. He was beginning to look a little red-faced himself, but she didn't care. "You need to calm it down," he said quietly.
"YOU SAID NO SECRETS, TAY! YOU PROMISED ME NO MORE SECRETS! I COULD HAVE STAYED IN NEW YORK FOR THIS BULLSHIT!"
"MEL," he said to her, forcefully. "If you would just calm down and tell me what in the FUCK you are talking about, there might be something worth explaining here, if you're willing to LISTEN TO REASON!"
"Don't yell at me, I'm pregnant!"
"Don't use your pregnancy as an excuse to get by with screaming at me!"
Taken aback by his statement, Mel grew quiet and nearly ashamed of herself. "Who is Kari?" she asked.
The blood drained from his face and his eyes widened. He looked as if he'd been busted. Mel wanted to be sick. "How do you know about Kari?"
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and shot daggers at him with her eyes. "You son of a bitch. You rat bastard son of a bitch. I can't believe you."
Laying the handful of bits and parts on the table next to him, he said to her, "I promise you, it is absolutely NOT what you think it is."
"Oh really? Then you better give me one HELL of a good goddamn reason why I answered your phone and this woman asked for you and then hung up on me. Only guilty bitches do that, Tay. GUILTY ONES!"
He crossed the room and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Listen. Focus. Do you remember when we were in New York and I told you that I needed you to trust me?"
She merely glared at him.
"Well, I need you to trust me," he continued. "Just for a little while longer. Please."
"This have something to do with your little top secret project? This Kari girl, is she your little top secret project? Maybe I should Google her."
"Please don't."
"Will I find pictures of you?"
Tay sighed. "No, you won't find pictures of anything, but--yes, this has everything to do with--with that, with what you said. And I promise you, on everything that is holy, on my life, your life, and our unborn child's life--"
"Don't you dare curse us like that--"
"--that you will know everything and more in just a short time. All of it. But I need you to trust me and I need you to back off and I need you to leave Kari alone. I need you to promise. Trust me."
Mel wasn't sure why, but she felt horrible. Something in his eyes--in his tone--made her feel absolutely horrible. She was ashamed of herself. Glancing down at her hands as they rested on her small baby bump, she asked, nearly inaudibly, "Do you swear?"
"I swear."
"Okay."
"Okay," he said calmly. At that, he found a plastic shopping bag and began to drop the remnants of his phone into the bag as his brothers only stared on in wide-eyed wonder. Walking toward the studio door, Tay took Mel's hand and led her behind him. "Come on," he said.
"Where are we going?" She protested.
"You're gonna get me a new phone."
"Excuse me?"
"You busted up my phone. I think it's only fair that you replace it. Don't you?"
Mel was silent as he saw her into the passenger side of his SUV and then slid in beside her on the other side. As they rode down the road, Mel took her usual stance, arms crossed and legs crossed, staring out the window.
"I'm listening," Tay prompted her as he drove them to the electronics store.
"For what?"
"For my apology."
She curled her lip up at him. "You disgust me," she spat quietly.
He reached over and took her hand and she saw him smile and shake his head out of the corner of her eye. "You know what? That's okay. You just sit there and keep on thinking of all those creative ways you want to apologize to me with. Because I know you totally are. Take your time, it's fine. I'll just be right here when you're ready."
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, looking ahead of her at the road. "See?" He said to her, mockingly. "I can practically hear the wheels turning in your head right this very second. Wow. This is gonna be the apology to end all apologies, I can feel it."
Mel huffed as she looked out the window again and several minutes later, they pulled into a parking space in front of the electronics store. Wordlessly, he handed Mel the plastic bag full of parts. "Have at it," he said.
She looked at the bag and she looked at him and she raised an eyebrow. "They're not gonna authorize that with me. Your name's on your account."
He thought about it for a second and then sighed, opening his door. "Shit," he muttered. "Once we get married, we're going on a shared plan. End of story."
"Why wait?" She spat, sarcastically.
As they walked into the store and up to the counter, it was obvious that the stout guy with the blue polo shirt on could detect the tension in the couple as he asked if he could help them. Tay sat the plastic bag down in the counter in front of Mel and said to him, "She would like to replace this, please."
Glancing at Tay, then at Mel, the guy said, "Um, okay." He pulled the plastic bag across the counter and peeked inside. "Wow. You, uh, you really did a number on your phone, ma'am. Did you run over it or something?"
"Oh no, that's my phone," Tay spoke up, matter-of-factly. "She's just replacing it for me."
Mel looked at Tay and glared into his eyes. "I threw it at his head and I missed because he's an asshole."
Tay's eyes widened at her and he smiled, amused. "You missed BECAUSE I'm an asshole," he repeated. "You didn't miss because your aim sucks or anything? It's my fault you didn't get a chance to injure me. This is priceless."
The guy behind the counter glanced from one to the other, obviously extremely confused and a little nervous. "Um, well, then...sir, what kind of phone can I assist you with today?"
Tay narrowed his eyes and looked around in thought. "I don't know...I want something good. Something with all the bells and whistles. Tell me what the best phone on the market is." He looked at Mel and raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Spare no expense."
She continued to glare at him.
The guy, with his kind eyes and dark hair, along with his tubby belly, walked around the counter and said, "Right this way, sir, I'll show you what we have."
As Tay turned around to follow, he took Mel's hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. As they followed, he leaned down and said in her ear, "How's that crow tasting, sweetheart?"
"You know what's gonna happen now, don't you?" She hissed back. "This is gonna be all over the local papers. 'Taylor Hanson's Fiancee Throws Phone At Him, Delivers To Store In Pieces.' And that'll be your fault, too, for this little display you're getting so much joy out of."
"And I'll be reminiscing about this day as I read that article on my shiny new phone, won't I?"
She huffed and turned her attention back to the display of cell phones they had stopped at.
An hour later, after Tay had laboriously picked out a phone, had all his data and contacts and service transferred, they rode back to 3CG. "You know, I was okay with everything until you humiliated me."
"Humiliated you? You destroyed my phone. I'm not gonna let you get by with that shit. Not anymore. You're about to become a mother, it's time you started thinking about things before you react from now on."
Mel took a deep breath and felt her body tense up. "Much like I'm thinking about how not to go fifty shades of crazy on your ass right this very second for that disgustingly holier than thou comment?"
"Yeah," Tay nodded. "Exactly like that."
Glaring out the windshield, her arms crossed over her chest, she muttered, "I'm sorry."
"What was that? I don't think I heard you."
Mel sighed and continued slowly, "I'm sorry that I threw the phone at you and that I missed. I'm sorry that because I missed, your phone shattered and we had to go through this ordeal to replace it. I am sorry that I jumped to conclusions and that I...displayed distrust toward you when I apparently have no reason to. But most of all, I'm sorry I even answered your damn phone."
"This is as good as it's gonna get, isn't it?"
"Pretty much."
"I'll take it."
On the way to the studio, they stopped for frozen yogurt and Mel was instantly happy. She smiled as the flavor of birthday cake and brownie chunks melted in her mouth and she knew that she had to be difficult for Tay to handle. In all honesty, she felt sorry for him having to put up with her. He was good to her and she didn't deserve him. She made a mental note to make it up to him somehow in the very near future.
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She got her chance the next day. Mel had no unearthly idea how in the hell the randomness of this idea popped into her head but she knew the moment it did, she had to go through with it.
As she waited anxiously in her office that morning, her eyes lit up as she heard the buzzer outside the door of the studio. Meeting Nikki halfway, her mass of curls bounced as she rushed Mel. "Mel!" She hissed. "There is a gorilla with a feather boa and a pair of bunny ears outside wanting to get into the studio!"
Mel grinned and nodded. "I know! It's a surprise for Tay."
"WHAT?!" Nikki squeaked out.
Giggling, Mel eagerly let the gorilla in as Nikki and the rest of the office girls stared in morbid curiosity. Looking him over, Mel giggled. "Oh my god, you are perfect!" The gorilla indeed wore white bunny ears, along with a red feather boa and a black outfit that very loosely resembled a Playboy bunny. Eagerly, she handed him a greeting card. "Give this to Taylor and let him read it before you get started."
Asking Katie to lead the gorilla to the back where the guys were, Mel and the rest of the girls followed to bear witness to the show. As Katie opened the door to the studio to let the gorilla in, the rest of the ladies filed in behind him and stayed near the door as the eyes of all three guys widened and they smiled in surprise. "What the hell is this?" Tay asked, glancing around.
The gorilla handed him Mel's card and he opened it up, reading it aloud slowly, "I am so sorry for all the hormonal craziness I have put you through lately. You take such good care of me and I appreciate it so much. So I thought you needed a break. Take a load off from your busy day and allow me to entertain you. All My Love, Me." He glanced up and met Mel's eyes, smiling. "What the--"
Isaac was more than happy to provide a chair and suddenly the gorilla pushed Tay down into it. Ike and Zac were rolling with laughter before it even began, Tay's face as red as the boa the gorilla wore around its neck. Clumsily, the gorilla moved its hips from side to side in front of Tay as it proceeded to make its own music. "Ba da! Ba da! Ba da!" He began as he took off the boa and wrapped it around Tay's neck.
"There's a guy under there," Zac observed as he and Ike nearly had tears rolling down their faces. The rest of the ladies had a hard time containing their giggles, as well.
Tay was red-faced as he laughed, leaning back in the chair. "Oh my god!" He laughed.
Muffled, the gorilla began to sing, badly, "Let me entertain you..." Then he shimmied his shoulders into Tay's face and turned around and wiggled his butt.
Tay's face only got redder and redder and he covered it with his hand, apparent that if he could have melted into the floor in order to disappear, he would have. His shoulders shook with laughter and the gorilla continued. "And we'll have a real good time, yes sir!" And then he raised a leg and rested his foot on Tay's knee. Ike and Zac were very nearly on the floor, Zac struggling to keep his phone poised as he filmed the entire thing. Running a huge, fake furry hand up his very large leg, the gorilla finished, "And we'll--have--a--real good--tiiiiiiime!"
By the time the gorilla backed off, Tay couldn't breathe. "Oh shit," he said as he covered his face.
Insistent on having pictures taken with the Playboy Bunny gorilla, pictures were taken with everyone before he was very handsomely-tipped and sent on his way. Smiling, Mel followed the rest of the girls back toward the office, when she heard Tay behind her, "Hey, where do you think you're going?"
"Uh, back to work," she said, turning around.
"No," he shook his head. "Don't pay a gorilla to barge in here on me and then expect to slip out under the radar."
"Well, I--"
He pulled her close to him and it was only then that she realized they were alone. "That was awesome," he said to her quietly, smiling.
She grinned back at him. "I thought you'd kill me for sure."
"I can honestly say, that has NEVER happened to me before."
"You should have seen your face," she giggled.
"Pretty sure Zac was filming it, so I'm sure I will." Then he grew serious. "You didn't have to go to that trouble. And you don't have to apologize to me."
"I know, but--I really got to thinking about that whole cell phone thing yesterday and I'm really embarrassed by my behavior and I really am sorry about all that. You're so good to me and I love you so much."
He grinned down at her. "And apparently love means sending me one of Hugh Hefner's rejects. Nice."
"Hey!" She laughed. "You said yesterday you just knew I was coming up with some creative way to apologize to you. There it was."
He kissed her and brushed her hair off of her shoulder. "I love you more," he said. "And thank you for the singing telegram, he was great. That's one for the history books right there."
"You wanna place bets that that video ends up on the website?" She asked.
"I'll place bets that it's there right NOW," he laughed.
"So, listen, I think I'm gonna call it a day," Mel said. "I think I'm gonna head home."
Tay looked alarmed all of a sudden. "Are you okay? Do I need to come with you?"
She shook her head and smiled. "No, I'm just tired, that's all. I think I'm just gonna go home and eat some lunch and lay down. No big deal. I've had a lot of excitement over the past couple of days."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I promise. If I need anything, I'll call you."
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TAYLOR
When Taylor came home that evening, he expected Mel to be in bed or at least vegged out in front of the television. He did NOT expect to walk in on what he walked in on.
The first thing he noticed was that the house smelled amazing. Something Italian was going on in the kitchen, that much was apparent, except that Mel was in the living room and not tending the food, so he had to put his faith in her that she knew what he was doing. To distract himself from immediately going into the kitchen to check on dinner, he instead gaped around the living room and then into the eyes of his beaming fiancée. "What the hell is going on in here?"
"I went shopping," she announced proudly.
"I thought you said you were tired?"
"I was. I mean, I am, but I'm too excited to rest. I ordered these things online last week and they just came today so I decided to make dinner and get to work on putting it together."
"This stuff" looked like a half-assembled crib, a high chair, and, to his amazement, a fully-assembled hutch that boasted the same dark wood as the crib. Eying the furniture warily, knowing Ike and Zac were both in the studio with him all day, he asked her, "Who helped you do this?"
"Nobody," she responded, breathlessly. "I did it all by myself. It really wasn't that hard."
Tay wanted to pass out. "Mel. Sweetheart. Why didn't you just let me do it when I got home?"
"Because I could do it myself," she stated, matter-of-factly.
"I really don't think--"
"It wasn't a problem," she said, her voice a little more stern.
What could he do? At this point, what could he really do? He merely looked back at her, speechless.
"But I do need you to move it all. I can help a little with that, but not much."
He wanted to spit nails. He wanted to spit nails and throw things and have a complete five-year-old style tantrum right there. Had she waited for him, he could have built the stuff right there in the baby's room and not had to move shit. Now he had to move all of the existing furniture out of there, and attempt to move an ENTIRE already-built brand new hutch in there--he had to sit down. He was beginning to feel dizzy.
Mel was apparently oblivious. Lost in her own baby bliss, she said cheerfully, "But you don't have to right now, though. Dinner's ready, so it can wait till later. It can't stay out here overnight, though." With that, she, along with her already-a-trouble-maker baby bump, bounded into the kitchen.
He looked around the living room and let out a breath, running both hands through his hair in frustration. If she hadn't been so damn adorable--and so damn happy--he'd be a lot more pissed right now. Except that now his stomach was growling and curiosity was getting the best of him, so he found his way to the kitchen.
Mel was already in and out of the sliding glass door, busying herself with setting the table outside. Watching the action interested him for a moment, as this wasn't their norm. Normally, when they weren't ordering takeout, they just grabbed plates out of the cabinets whenever Tay cooked and ate together right there at the island. But not tonight, apparently. Apparently tonight there were placemats and napkins and...new silverware? New dishes? How much shopping had she done? He didn't even want to know.
As he watched her breeze back through the kitchen and pull an already-prepared salad out of the refrigerator, he asked her, "Are we...celebrating something?"
"Nope," she said as she tossed the salad a little and carried it outside with a bottle of dressing.
As she breezed her way back in once more, she then grabbed a beer and opened it, handing it to him. He smiled hesitantly. "Uh, thank you. Do, uh, you want me to help with something?"
"Nope."
"So...what's going on?"
"Nothing," she answered, matter-of-factly. "Just dinner. It's nothing fancy, just spaghetti and some bread."
Tay was completely confused. "Wow, really--?"
She stopped for a moment and smiled at him. "Yeah, I know, right? I was surprised myself, it just kinda--happened. Anyway, don't worry, I tried some already and it's fabulous. I'm really proud of myself."
In the next couple of minutes, he carried his beer outside to an already-prepared plate. Sitting down across from her, the whole thing felt odd but really good all at the same time. She treated the entire instance like it was nothing and sat munching and chattering away. She didn't stop talking and he had no idea what she was talking about. All he could think about was how he came home and she was like--a wife. That was exactly what it was. For the first time since--well, since he could remember--she treated him like he was her husband. It was...surreal.
Hell came after dinner. Hell came when Tay came crashing back to reality--the one where his fiancée was currently blissfully pregnant and went through the house in a tornadic whirlwind, starting problems that she couldn't finish on her own. So there he was, left to pick up the pieces alone. After a minor argument about possibly disassembling the hutch and then possibly calling Ike or Zac over to help move it, both ideas which were shut down immediately, tears became involved and Tay instantly had to think of a way to get this done. He didn't know why and he supposed the why didn't matter, but she had her heart set on having this done and having it done tonight. And, dammit, she stood there before him with her little belly and her expectant eyes and he was her man and, dammit, he was gonna do what she wanted him to do. Whether it killed him or not.
It was tough being a man sometimes.
When it was all said and done, when the old hand-me-down crib and shelves were carefully moved into the garage and the new ones put into place, after Tay had finished assembling what turned out to be a really cool-looking sleigh crib, he was exhausted. But he was happy with the Cheshire Cat-style grin on her face as she excitedly ran her hands over the new furniture and chattered incessantly about the type of bedding they would have for the crib and the types of things she was going to put on or in the hutch.
Walking over to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brushed her nose against his. "Thank you so much for doing this for me."
"Anytime, sweetheart."
"I love you so much. You're my hero, you know that?"
He felt himself blushing as he smiled at her. "I'm trying."
"You don't have to try. You just are. Come on, let's get you in bed, you've had a long day."
Eagerly, he allowed her to lead him into their bedroom.
---------
It seemed to take Mel twice as long lately to get into bed as it did Taylor, so it was nothing new to him to be in his t-shirt and boxers and settled with a book before she even came out of the bathroom. Tonight was no exception.
He did take notice, however, when she came through the bathroom door in one of his white button-down shirts, messy hair, and bare feet. Was this pregnancy-related, too? He had no idea of knowing, but it was sexy as hell anyway. His curiosity piqued even more when she opted to get into bed on HIS side instead of her own and, instead of crossing the bed to get to her side, she jerked the pillows from behind his back and replaced them with herself, sitting on her knees and pushing him forward.
Without a word, she pulled his shirt over his head and he allowed it to happen and was just about to question her when her thumbs dug into the base of his neck and he let out a moan, his body going limp and turning into complete putty in her hands. "God, you're so tense," she stated quietly as she continued to knead into him.
He could only murmur in agreement. Goddamn that felt so good. With as much brainpower he could muster, he thought long and hard about what it was he could have possibly done to deserve the treatment he was getting tonight, but he came up with nothing. What he knew he needed to do was just to stop trying to question it altogether and just let this ride and just enjoy it. Still, though.
She spent a good, steady half hour on him, never speaking much, never tiring, never complaining. She went over his neck, his shoulders and his entire back, the feeling completely indescribable. He truly believed she'd missed her calling as a massage therapist and he spent a majority of the time silently praying that this wouldn't be the last time this would ever happen.
Disappointed when she stopped, but not daring to vocalize that thought, he turned his head and smiled over his shoulder. "Thank you so much, that was amazing."
Without a response, she climbed around him and placed herself between his legs, close to his body, sitting up on her knees again. "So, furniture was the only thing I shopped for," she said as she unbuttoned the shirt that she'd borrowed from him. "I bought you a little something, too."
"Oh, for me," he clarified.
She winked at him. "Just a little something."
As she opened the shirt, she revealed the black, lace pushup bra she wore underneath and the black lacy panties with the ruffles to match. Her breasts had already almost doubled in size, something he'd been keeping a very close eye on anyway, and this bra just accentuated her new size even more. He got an erection upon instant sight of her and he couldn't keep his hands off of her all of a sudden. "Yes, you certainly did get something for me, didn't you?" He breathed as he ran his hands up the sides of her body. "Goddamn, you've never been sexier than you are right now."
She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him. "Really?"
He nodded, his eyes still taking every inch of her body in. "Yeah. Really." It was the belly that set it off. He didn't dare tell her, but there was something about her being pregnant that seemed to turn him on like nothing ever had before. Was it her growing boobs and ass? Yeah, he knew that had something to do with it. But something else--he couldn't put his finger on it and right now he didn't care. He just wanted her.
Pulling her close to him, he peeled his shirt back off of her shoulders and his mouth went straight for her collar bone, covering every inch of skin he could reach in the position he was sitting in. She hooked an arm around his neck to support herself as she let her head fall back and he grabbed a handful of her ass as his lips trailed from her neck to her mouth.
He wasn't really in the mood to waste much time tonight and he ventured to guess she wasn't either since she wasn't entirely eager to take her bra off and he was perfectly okay with that. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her naked, but the naughty bra excited him and he'd rather she kept it on, at least this time around. However, as much as he hated to see the cute-as-hell ruffles go, he was more interested in what was underneath them and so he thumbed the seam of the panties and pulled down on them hastily, his fingers instantly finding themselves between her legs.
He'd done some reading over the past few weeks and one of his favorite things to read was, apparently women became much more sensitive and much more eager for sex during the second trimester. He had counted down impatiently to the time where she would start being unable to get enough of him and this looked like this might be the start of it. She'd alluded to it yesterday before the whole cell phone thing happened and she hadn't been in the mood after that. But now? This was definitely happening.
He wasn't disappointed. The moment his fingers entered her, she was nearly unable to contain herself. It was almost like he'd hit some kind of magic button or something, she'd never responded to him quite like this before. Curiosity got the better of him and he guided her backward, laying her on her back and pulling her panties the rest of the way off of her legs. She seemed nervous for a split second when he lowered his leg but once his tongue met her, that was all she wrote. She moaned and she writhed underneath him and it took her less than two minutes to come which was more or less an astonishing record.
Leaving her position, she backed him up and she straddled him, barely giving him time to get his shorts out of the way before she was already lowering himself on him. Resting himself on his elbows, then slowly lowering himself onto his back, she used her body weight to press against his chest as she rode him. She didn't even look at him. At this point it was obvious that she merely rode him to get herself off and he had absolutely no problem with that, whatsoever. Tonight it was her face and the sounds that she made that was getting him off, rather than her body. There was something sensual and erotic about the way she enjoyed herself and he almost felt like he wasn't even involved, like he was merely the voyeur. The kicker was, he was fairly certain she wasn't thinking about it that way at all.
After a few minutes, it got to be too much and he had to grip her hips as he grinded himself into her from underneath her. The change in dynamic seemed to hit the spot just right for her because he felt himself coming as her breathing quickened and she was getting close. After muttering a few expletives through her teeth as she came, he came seconds after and they both sat and caught their breaths for a moment before she leaned down for their obligatory celebratory kiss. He would never tell her, but the kiss they always shared after sex was his favorite part. It was intimate, it was romantic, and it was sweet and every once in awhile he would make love to her just to get to that moment.
After collecting articles of clothing and tossing them off the bed and after Mel spent a few minutes in the bathroom, emerging in regular night clothes, they lay in bed together and talked about random things for the next several minutes. As he witnessed Mel's eyes getting heavy, Tay reached over to turn off the bedside lamp and was stopped when her voice startled him. "Oh my god, Tay!"
He looked over at her and she was sitting up in the bed, her eyes wide. Panic struck him instantly. "What? What? Are you okay?"
A smile spread across her face as her hand flew to her stomach. "The baby just moved!"
His smile matched hers of disbelief. "What? Are you serious? Already?"
"Yeah. At least I think so. I've never felt that before!"
"Can you feel it from the outside?"
She looked at him, her eyebrows raised. "I don't know..."
Turning out the light, he scooted down in the bed, pulling her close to him as he spooned her, and pulled the covers over their shoulders. For the rest of the night the pair slept, each with a hand on her stomach in eager anticipation.
-------------------------------------------
Alternate Jason chapter: http://tyamwedding.weebly.com/the-celebrity-alternate.html
TAYLOR
For the past several days, Taylor had hit the ground running, getting back to work. Never mind that Mel had to force him into it. "GO TO WORK," she had finally said. "I am fine, I know where you are if I need you. Just go to work. I would much rather you go than be here and on the phone all day, talking business. Bye."
And so the next morning, he had gone to work.
Several mornings later, he discovered that Mel had left the house from right underneath him, informing him that she was spending a day in the office, as well. The fact that he could stop in her office and see her before he got on with the rest of his day reminded him of old times and made him smile. Everyone always said it was a bad idea to work with your significant other, but he loved that Mel had an office there.
Stopping for his morning Starbucks run, he opted to go in since they'd had a penchant for getting his order wrong lately. As he walked in the door, he beamed at the sight of his favorite barista behind the bar. Nikki was a petite girl with long, blonde hair and an infectious smile and had he been single, he would have totally gone for her. But she'd been his barista forever now and what he felt for her was completely platonic--and coffee. But he always flirted with her and he'd come to the conclusion that a little harmless flirting never hurt anyone--and it especially didn't hurt the correctness of his coffee order. He used Mel's relationship with Jason as his reasoning. He felt like a bastard for it, but he didn't care. Mel knew Nikki, too, so wasn't like he was keeping her a secret or anything.
"Taylor!" Nikki said, smiling when she saw him. "How are you this morning?"
"Long time, no see," he smiled, leaning against the counter. "You disappeared on me, what gives?"
Nikki's smile widened and she flashed her left hand at him. "I got married."
"What?" He said, smiling. "That's awesome, congratulations."
"Thank you. We just got back from our honeymoon. I took a few days off."
"I noticed. Where'd you go?"
"The Bahamas. It was so much fun, I wasn't ready to come back."
"Maybe you weren't, but I was." He leaned over the counter and murmured, "You're the only one who can make my drink right."
"I heard that!" Jessica said loudly from behind her glasses as she mixed an order for the drive thru. Jessica stood a tad shorter than Nikki and sported long red hair and trendy glasses. The two were an adorable pair of best friends. They made Tay smile every morning.
"I love you, Jess!" Tay responded, a cheesy grin on his face.
Jess cut eyes at him. "Mmhmm," she muttered sarcastically.
Tay's eyes met Nikki's again. "I'm dying here, you gotta work your magic."
Nikki smiled. "I'm on it."
As Nikki and Jess busied themselves, Tay smiled and leaned across the bar again. "Hey, you wanna know a secret?" He hissed.
Both Nikki's and Jess's heads whipped around and he motioned them over. "You gotta keep it quiet, though, we're not ready to go public with it yet, though we'll probably have to really soon. Anyway, Mel's pregnant."
The girls' eyes widened, along with their smiles. "No way!" Jess said.
Tay smiled. "Yep. Sixteen weeks today."
"Today?" Jess repeated.
"Today."
"Well, I gotta make her something, then," Nikki said. "Is she in the office today?"
"Yeah."
"I thought so. I saw her Jeep pass by earlier," Jess spoke up. "You're running a little late today, aren't you?"
"Yeah, yeah," Tay smirked. "How would I function every morning without you to keep me in line?"
"Beats me," Jess answered.
"I can't make her her usual," Nikki said. "Unless I just pour her a cup of decaf coffee."
"Nah," Tay disagreed. "Make her something fun. Something pumpkin and cream-based, I don't know. Things are different with her lately, like--I dunno."
Both girls looked at him. "Good or bad?" Nikki asked.
"Good! Good, don't get me wrong. Just different. I think the maternal instincts are starting to kick in. It's kind of adorable. But don't tell her I said that."
As the girls finished up his order, he changed the subject. "So when are you girls gonna come out with us one night? I've only been asking for months now."
"And do what?" Nikki asked.
"I don't know. Whatever it is you do when you go out. Dinner, drinks, who knows? Hey, bring your husbands, we can make it a group thing."
"I am NOT bringing my husband ANYWHERE," Jess spoke up suddenly.
"What?" Tay said. "Come on. Zac would be disappointed if he missed a chance to trade one-liners with you."
"Oh please, I win every time and he knows it. But, yanno, maybe if he started drinking coffee he could trade one-liners with me every day like you do instead of just coming in by proxy whenever he catches a ride."
"Good luck with that. And, besides, you don't HAVE to bring your husband, it was just a suggestion."
"Well, tell Zac not to bring his wife and it's a date."
Tay and Nikki shared matching sets of wide eyes and Nikki laughed. "Oh my god..."
"Jess, do you have a crush on my brother?"
"Please, like it's a secret or anything," Jess confessed.
Tay felt himself blushing, not really sure why. "Well this has definitely turned into an interesting morning, that's for sure."
"Oh, it's nothing," Jess assured him. "I just think he's hot and I admire him from afar. It's no biggie, really."
Tay nodded, narrowing his eyes at her. "Okay. Okay. I got you." When his order was ready, he tipped both the girls handsomely the way he normally did and then picked his drinks up off the bar. "Well it's been fun but it's off to work. Thank you ladies, we'll pick this back up tomorrow." He eyed Jess at that statement and smiled at Nikki before walking out the door.
He shook his head as he walked to his vehicle. Tulsa sure had some characters and he was glad to know them. He loved this town.
------------
Walking into Mel's office, she smiled at him as he sat at her desk across from her. "Brought you something," he smiled back as he sat her Starbucks cup in front of her.
Her smile widened. "Aww, sweetie, that's so sweet of you. Thank you." Then she frowned. "But you know I can't have coffee."
He flashed an award-winning smile at her. "It's not coffee."
Tasting it, she smiled. "That is so good. Kinda hit the spot this morning. Were the girls there?"
"They were on it this morning," he said, smiling. "Nikki got married."
"Did she?" Mel grinned. "That's great, good for her."
"Yep, and Jess has a crush on Zac."
"You didn't know that?"
"You did?"
"I'm a woman, are you kidding?"
He scowled at her for a moment before he smiled again. "I told them you were pregnant. They're excited for you."
Mel smiled. "That's nice of them. They're sweet, I like them." She took a sip of her hot drink again and said to Tay, "I love you."
Caught off guard at the randomness of it, he blushed a little and smiled. "Uh, I love you, too."
"No, I mean I REALLY love you. You've been taking such good care of me, making sure life is as normal as possible for me. Coffee that's not coffee from Starbucks, juice in wine glasses--you're too good to me, I don't know how I could ever repay you."
"You're having my child, I'm pretty sure that makes us even," he laughed. Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Look, I want to show you something." Pulling the picture up on his phone, he leaned across the desk and handed it to Mel. "What do you think of that?"
Taking the phone from his hand, she looked at it, confused. "A backpack?"
"It's not just any backpack," he said, his eyes glittering. "It's a diaper bag."
She looked up at him like he was crazy. "What? No, I'm not carrying that thing around, that's tacky."
"No, it's actually not!" He came around the deck and leaned over on it, swiping the phone with his thumb to show her the other pictures. "It's called an Okkatot and it sits upright and you open it up and it looks like a little closet. It has compartments for everything, including a bottle cooler which I thought was really neat. Anyway, it has its own changing mat and everything so you can change her anywhere when needed."
"Her?" Mel looked up at him.
"Well, I mean, you say you're convinced it's a girl...anyway, the reviews on it are excellent."
Mel smiled at him as she took the phone from his hand again. "When did all this come about?"
"Sitting at a red light this morning."
He watched her face as she scrolled and read through what he had in hopes that she might be on board with it. Finally, she nodded her head. "I mean, some reviews say they found it a little big, but I think that just depends on what all you're packing in it, right? It seems pretty handy. Seems like something that might interest me, I'd give it a whirl."
Tay beamed at her response. "Good. Cause I already ordered two of them."
"Two? For what?"
"One for you and one for me."
Mel laughed. "One for me and one that'll never be used."
"That would offend me if that were actually true. I'm gonna be father of the year. Ike and Zac will come to ME for advice, you wait and see."
Smiling, Mel put his phone down and took his face in her hands, bringing him close to her. "I have no doubt in my mind that this child will have the best father any child could ever have." Then she kissed him and looked into his eyes. "But I have work to do so I need you to get out of my office before I tear your clothes off right here. I'm feeling exceptionally friendly this morning and a few hours apart will probably be helpful."
He kissed her one more time before he left her office, smiling as he walked to the back of the building. He even whistled a little bit. He felt excellent that morning, as if he could take on the world and he felt ready for anything that could be thrown at him that day. Whatever it was, he would conquer it.
------------------------------------------------------------------
MEL
An hour later, Mel hadn't realized that Taylor had left his cell phone on her desk until she heard it vibrate against the wood. She picked it up and turned it over and saw 'Kari' across the screen. Narrowing her eyes in curiosity, she did something she knew she shouldn't have done, an invasion of Tay's privacy.
She answered it.
"Hello, Taylor's phone, this is Melody!" She tried to be as cheerful as possible.
The voice on the other end sounded confused. "Um, did you say this was Taylor's phone?"
"Yes, I did."
"Um...is he...available?"
"No...that's why I have his phone."
"Oh. Okay." And then the girl hung up.
Mel's blood boiled and she saw nothing but red.
A firm death grip on his phone, Mel marched out of her office and straight to the back of the studio where she could see all three brothers through the window, apparently in deep discussion. Mel swung the studio door open and barely glanced at Isaac and Zac out of the corner of her eye as they sat in a couple of chairs off to the left of the small room. Instead, she focused all her attention on chunking Tay's cell phone directly at the wall he leaned his shoulder against, shattering into pieces right next to his head.
Flinching and ducking at the impact, he looked at her, wide-eyed. "Holy shit, Mel! What the fuck?"
"YOU LYING ASSHOLE!" She screamed at him. She had an audience. She didn't care. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT, HOW DARE YOU?"
He looked confused. Genuinely confused. "What the fuck are you talking about? Whose was--was that--?" He started feeling around his pockets, realizing they were empty. "Is that MY phone? Christ, Mel, how many phones am I gonna go through this year?"
"AS MANY AS IT TAKES FOR YOU TO NOT BE A LYING BASTARD!"
As Tay bent over to pick up the pieces of his now-deceased phone, he was silent. He was beginning to look a little red-faced himself, but she didn't care. "You need to calm it down," he said quietly.
"YOU SAID NO SECRETS, TAY! YOU PROMISED ME NO MORE SECRETS! I COULD HAVE STAYED IN NEW YORK FOR THIS BULLSHIT!"
"MEL," he said to her, forcefully. "If you would just calm down and tell me what in the FUCK you are talking about, there might be something worth explaining here, if you're willing to LISTEN TO REASON!"
"Don't yell at me, I'm pregnant!"
"Don't use your pregnancy as an excuse to get by with screaming at me!"
Taken aback by his statement, Mel grew quiet and nearly ashamed of herself. "Who is Kari?" she asked.
The blood drained from his face and his eyes widened. He looked as if he'd been busted. Mel wanted to be sick. "How do you know about Kari?"
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and shot daggers at him with her eyes. "You son of a bitch. You rat bastard son of a bitch. I can't believe you."
Laying the handful of bits and parts on the table next to him, he said to her, "I promise you, it is absolutely NOT what you think it is."
"Oh really? Then you better give me one HELL of a good goddamn reason why I answered your phone and this woman asked for you and then hung up on me. Only guilty bitches do that, Tay. GUILTY ONES!"
He crossed the room and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Listen. Focus. Do you remember when we were in New York and I told you that I needed you to trust me?"
She merely glared at him.
"Well, I need you to trust me," he continued. "Just for a little while longer. Please."
"This have something to do with your little top secret project? This Kari girl, is she your little top secret project? Maybe I should Google her."
"Please don't."
"Will I find pictures of you?"
Tay sighed. "No, you won't find pictures of anything, but--yes, this has everything to do with--with that, with what you said. And I promise you, on everything that is holy, on my life, your life, and our unborn child's life--"
"Don't you dare curse us like that--"
"--that you will know everything and more in just a short time. All of it. But I need you to trust me and I need you to back off and I need you to leave Kari alone. I need you to promise. Trust me."
Mel wasn't sure why, but she felt horrible. Something in his eyes--in his tone--made her feel absolutely horrible. She was ashamed of herself. Glancing down at her hands as they rested on her small baby bump, she asked, nearly inaudibly, "Do you swear?"
"I swear."
"Okay."
"Okay," he said calmly. At that, he found a plastic shopping bag and began to drop the remnants of his phone into the bag as his brothers only stared on in wide-eyed wonder. Walking toward the studio door, Tay took Mel's hand and led her behind him. "Come on," he said.
"Where are we going?" She protested.
"You're gonna get me a new phone."
"Excuse me?"
"You busted up my phone. I think it's only fair that you replace it. Don't you?"
Mel was silent as he saw her into the passenger side of his SUV and then slid in beside her on the other side. As they rode down the road, Mel took her usual stance, arms crossed and legs crossed, staring out the window.
"I'm listening," Tay prompted her as he drove them to the electronics store.
"For what?"
"For my apology."
She curled her lip up at him. "You disgust me," she spat quietly.
He reached over and took her hand and she saw him smile and shake his head out of the corner of her eye. "You know what? That's okay. You just sit there and keep on thinking of all those creative ways you want to apologize to me with. Because I know you totally are. Take your time, it's fine. I'll just be right here when you're ready."
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, looking ahead of her at the road. "See?" He said to her, mockingly. "I can practically hear the wheels turning in your head right this very second. Wow. This is gonna be the apology to end all apologies, I can feel it."
Mel huffed as she looked out the window again and several minutes later, they pulled into a parking space in front of the electronics store. Wordlessly, he handed Mel the plastic bag full of parts. "Have at it," he said.
She looked at the bag and she looked at him and she raised an eyebrow. "They're not gonna authorize that with me. Your name's on your account."
He thought about it for a second and then sighed, opening his door. "Shit," he muttered. "Once we get married, we're going on a shared plan. End of story."
"Why wait?" She spat, sarcastically.
As they walked into the store and up to the counter, it was obvious that the stout guy with the blue polo shirt on could detect the tension in the couple as he asked if he could help them. Tay sat the plastic bag down in the counter in front of Mel and said to him, "She would like to replace this, please."
Glancing at Tay, then at Mel, the guy said, "Um, okay." He pulled the plastic bag across the counter and peeked inside. "Wow. You, uh, you really did a number on your phone, ma'am. Did you run over it or something?"
"Oh no, that's my phone," Tay spoke up, matter-of-factly. "She's just replacing it for me."
Mel looked at Tay and glared into his eyes. "I threw it at his head and I missed because he's an asshole."
Tay's eyes widened at her and he smiled, amused. "You missed BECAUSE I'm an asshole," he repeated. "You didn't miss because your aim sucks or anything? It's my fault you didn't get a chance to injure me. This is priceless."
The guy behind the counter glanced from one to the other, obviously extremely confused and a little nervous. "Um, well, then...sir, what kind of phone can I assist you with today?"
Tay narrowed his eyes and looked around in thought. "I don't know...I want something good. Something with all the bells and whistles. Tell me what the best phone on the market is." He looked at Mel and raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Spare no expense."
She continued to glare at him.
The guy, with his kind eyes and dark hair, along with his tubby belly, walked around the counter and said, "Right this way, sir, I'll show you what we have."
As Tay turned around to follow, he took Mel's hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. As they followed, he leaned down and said in her ear, "How's that crow tasting, sweetheart?"
"You know what's gonna happen now, don't you?" She hissed back. "This is gonna be all over the local papers. 'Taylor Hanson's Fiancee Throws Phone At Him, Delivers To Store In Pieces.' And that'll be your fault, too, for this little display you're getting so much joy out of."
"And I'll be reminiscing about this day as I read that article on my shiny new phone, won't I?"
She huffed and turned her attention back to the display of cell phones they had stopped at.
An hour later, after Tay had laboriously picked out a phone, had all his data and contacts and service transferred, they rode back to 3CG. "You know, I was okay with everything until you humiliated me."
"Humiliated you? You destroyed my phone. I'm not gonna let you get by with that shit. Not anymore. You're about to become a mother, it's time you started thinking about things before you react from now on."
Mel took a deep breath and felt her body tense up. "Much like I'm thinking about how not to go fifty shades of crazy on your ass right this very second for that disgustingly holier than thou comment?"
"Yeah," Tay nodded. "Exactly like that."
Glaring out the windshield, her arms crossed over her chest, she muttered, "I'm sorry."
"What was that? I don't think I heard you."
Mel sighed and continued slowly, "I'm sorry that I threw the phone at you and that I missed. I'm sorry that because I missed, your phone shattered and we had to go through this ordeal to replace it. I am sorry that I jumped to conclusions and that I...displayed distrust toward you when I apparently have no reason to. But most of all, I'm sorry I even answered your damn phone."
"This is as good as it's gonna get, isn't it?"
"Pretty much."
"I'll take it."
On the way to the studio, they stopped for frozen yogurt and Mel was instantly happy. She smiled as the flavor of birthday cake and brownie chunks melted in her mouth and she knew that she had to be difficult for Tay to handle. In all honesty, she felt sorry for him having to put up with her. He was good to her and she didn't deserve him. She made a mental note to make it up to him somehow in the very near future.
------------
She got her chance the next day. Mel had no unearthly idea how in the hell the randomness of this idea popped into her head but she knew the moment it did, she had to go through with it.
As she waited anxiously in her office that morning, her eyes lit up as she heard the buzzer outside the door of the studio. Meeting Nikki halfway, her mass of curls bounced as she rushed Mel. "Mel!" She hissed. "There is a gorilla with a feather boa and a pair of bunny ears outside wanting to get into the studio!"
Mel grinned and nodded. "I know! It's a surprise for Tay."
"WHAT?!" Nikki squeaked out.
Giggling, Mel eagerly let the gorilla in as Nikki and the rest of the office girls stared in morbid curiosity. Looking him over, Mel giggled. "Oh my god, you are perfect!" The gorilla indeed wore white bunny ears, along with a red feather boa and a black outfit that very loosely resembled a Playboy bunny. Eagerly, she handed him a greeting card. "Give this to Taylor and let him read it before you get started."
Asking Katie to lead the gorilla to the back where the guys were, Mel and the rest of the girls followed to bear witness to the show. As Katie opened the door to the studio to let the gorilla in, the rest of the ladies filed in behind him and stayed near the door as the eyes of all three guys widened and they smiled in surprise. "What the hell is this?" Tay asked, glancing around.
The gorilla handed him Mel's card and he opened it up, reading it aloud slowly, "I am so sorry for all the hormonal craziness I have put you through lately. You take such good care of me and I appreciate it so much. So I thought you needed a break. Take a load off from your busy day and allow me to entertain you. All My Love, Me." He glanced up and met Mel's eyes, smiling. "What the--"
Isaac was more than happy to provide a chair and suddenly the gorilla pushed Tay down into it. Ike and Zac were rolling with laughter before it even began, Tay's face as red as the boa the gorilla wore around its neck. Clumsily, the gorilla moved its hips from side to side in front of Tay as it proceeded to make its own music. "Ba da! Ba da! Ba da!" He began as he took off the boa and wrapped it around Tay's neck.
"There's a guy under there," Zac observed as he and Ike nearly had tears rolling down their faces. The rest of the ladies had a hard time containing their giggles, as well.
Tay was red-faced as he laughed, leaning back in the chair. "Oh my god!" He laughed.
Muffled, the gorilla began to sing, badly, "Let me entertain you..." Then he shimmied his shoulders into Tay's face and turned around and wiggled his butt.
Tay's face only got redder and redder and he covered it with his hand, apparent that if he could have melted into the floor in order to disappear, he would have. His shoulders shook with laughter and the gorilla continued. "And we'll have a real good time, yes sir!" And then he raised a leg and rested his foot on Tay's knee. Ike and Zac were very nearly on the floor, Zac struggling to keep his phone poised as he filmed the entire thing. Running a huge, fake furry hand up his very large leg, the gorilla finished, "And we'll--have--a--real good--tiiiiiiime!"
By the time the gorilla backed off, Tay couldn't breathe. "Oh shit," he said as he covered his face.
Insistent on having pictures taken with the Playboy Bunny gorilla, pictures were taken with everyone before he was very handsomely-tipped and sent on his way. Smiling, Mel followed the rest of the girls back toward the office, when she heard Tay behind her, "Hey, where do you think you're going?"
"Uh, back to work," she said, turning around.
"No," he shook his head. "Don't pay a gorilla to barge in here on me and then expect to slip out under the radar."
"Well, I--"
He pulled her close to him and it was only then that she realized they were alone. "That was awesome," he said to her quietly, smiling.
She grinned back at him. "I thought you'd kill me for sure."
"I can honestly say, that has NEVER happened to me before."
"You should have seen your face," she giggled.
"Pretty sure Zac was filming it, so I'm sure I will." Then he grew serious. "You didn't have to go to that trouble. And you don't have to apologize to me."
"I know, but--I really got to thinking about that whole cell phone thing yesterday and I'm really embarrassed by my behavior and I really am sorry about all that. You're so good to me and I love you so much."
He grinned down at her. "And apparently love means sending me one of Hugh Hefner's rejects. Nice."
"Hey!" She laughed. "You said yesterday you just knew I was coming up with some creative way to apologize to you. There it was."
He kissed her and brushed her hair off of her shoulder. "I love you more," he said. "And thank you for the singing telegram, he was great. That's one for the history books right there."
"You wanna place bets that that video ends up on the website?" She asked.
"I'll place bets that it's there right NOW," he laughed.
"So, listen, I think I'm gonna call it a day," Mel said. "I think I'm gonna head home."
Tay looked alarmed all of a sudden. "Are you okay? Do I need to come with you?"
She shook her head and smiled. "No, I'm just tired, that's all. I think I'm just gonna go home and eat some lunch and lay down. No big deal. I've had a lot of excitement over the past couple of days."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I promise. If I need anything, I'll call you."
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TAYLOR
When Taylor came home that evening, he expected Mel to be in bed or at least vegged out in front of the television. He did NOT expect to walk in on what he walked in on.
The first thing he noticed was that the house smelled amazing. Something Italian was going on in the kitchen, that much was apparent, except that Mel was in the living room and not tending the food, so he had to put his faith in her that she knew what he was doing. To distract himself from immediately going into the kitchen to check on dinner, he instead gaped around the living room and then into the eyes of his beaming fiancée. "What the hell is going on in here?"
"I went shopping," she announced proudly.
"I thought you said you were tired?"
"I was. I mean, I am, but I'm too excited to rest. I ordered these things online last week and they just came today so I decided to make dinner and get to work on putting it together."
"This stuff" looked like a half-assembled crib, a high chair, and, to his amazement, a fully-assembled hutch that boasted the same dark wood as the crib. Eying the furniture warily, knowing Ike and Zac were both in the studio with him all day, he asked her, "Who helped you do this?"
"Nobody," she responded, breathlessly. "I did it all by myself. It really wasn't that hard."
Tay wanted to pass out. "Mel. Sweetheart. Why didn't you just let me do it when I got home?"
"Because I could do it myself," she stated, matter-of-factly.
"I really don't think--"
"It wasn't a problem," she said, her voice a little more stern.
What could he do? At this point, what could he really do? He merely looked back at her, speechless.
"But I do need you to move it all. I can help a little with that, but not much."
He wanted to spit nails. He wanted to spit nails and throw things and have a complete five-year-old style tantrum right there. Had she waited for him, he could have built the stuff right there in the baby's room and not had to move shit. Now he had to move all of the existing furniture out of there, and attempt to move an ENTIRE already-built brand new hutch in there--he had to sit down. He was beginning to feel dizzy.
Mel was apparently oblivious. Lost in her own baby bliss, she said cheerfully, "But you don't have to right now, though. Dinner's ready, so it can wait till later. It can't stay out here overnight, though." With that, she, along with her already-a-trouble-maker baby bump, bounded into the kitchen.
He looked around the living room and let out a breath, running both hands through his hair in frustration. If she hadn't been so damn adorable--and so damn happy--he'd be a lot more pissed right now. Except that now his stomach was growling and curiosity was getting the best of him, so he found his way to the kitchen.
Mel was already in and out of the sliding glass door, busying herself with setting the table outside. Watching the action interested him for a moment, as this wasn't their norm. Normally, when they weren't ordering takeout, they just grabbed plates out of the cabinets whenever Tay cooked and ate together right there at the island. But not tonight, apparently. Apparently tonight there were placemats and napkins and...new silverware? New dishes? How much shopping had she done? He didn't even want to know.
As he watched her breeze back through the kitchen and pull an already-prepared salad out of the refrigerator, he asked her, "Are we...celebrating something?"
"Nope," she said as she tossed the salad a little and carried it outside with a bottle of dressing.
As she breezed her way back in once more, she then grabbed a beer and opened it, handing it to him. He smiled hesitantly. "Uh, thank you. Do, uh, you want me to help with something?"
"Nope."
"So...what's going on?"
"Nothing," she answered, matter-of-factly. "Just dinner. It's nothing fancy, just spaghetti and some bread."
Tay was completely confused. "Wow, really--?"
She stopped for a moment and smiled at him. "Yeah, I know, right? I was surprised myself, it just kinda--happened. Anyway, don't worry, I tried some already and it's fabulous. I'm really proud of myself."
In the next couple of minutes, he carried his beer outside to an already-prepared plate. Sitting down across from her, the whole thing felt odd but really good all at the same time. She treated the entire instance like it was nothing and sat munching and chattering away. She didn't stop talking and he had no idea what she was talking about. All he could think about was how he came home and she was like--a wife. That was exactly what it was. For the first time since--well, since he could remember--she treated him like he was her husband. It was...surreal.
Hell came after dinner. Hell came when Tay came crashing back to reality--the one where his fiancée was currently blissfully pregnant and went through the house in a tornadic whirlwind, starting problems that she couldn't finish on her own. So there he was, left to pick up the pieces alone. After a minor argument about possibly disassembling the hutch and then possibly calling Ike or Zac over to help move it, both ideas which were shut down immediately, tears became involved and Tay instantly had to think of a way to get this done. He didn't know why and he supposed the why didn't matter, but she had her heart set on having this done and having it done tonight. And, dammit, she stood there before him with her little belly and her expectant eyes and he was her man and, dammit, he was gonna do what she wanted him to do. Whether it killed him or not.
It was tough being a man sometimes.
When it was all said and done, when the old hand-me-down crib and shelves were carefully moved into the garage and the new ones put into place, after Tay had finished assembling what turned out to be a really cool-looking sleigh crib, he was exhausted. But he was happy with the Cheshire Cat-style grin on her face as she excitedly ran her hands over the new furniture and chattered incessantly about the type of bedding they would have for the crib and the types of things she was going to put on or in the hutch.
Walking over to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brushed her nose against his. "Thank you so much for doing this for me."
"Anytime, sweetheart."
"I love you so much. You're my hero, you know that?"
He felt himself blushing as he smiled at her. "I'm trying."
"You don't have to try. You just are. Come on, let's get you in bed, you've had a long day."
Eagerly, he allowed her to lead him into their bedroom.
---------
It seemed to take Mel twice as long lately to get into bed as it did Taylor, so it was nothing new to him to be in his t-shirt and boxers and settled with a book before she even came out of the bathroom. Tonight was no exception.
He did take notice, however, when she came through the bathroom door in one of his white button-down shirts, messy hair, and bare feet. Was this pregnancy-related, too? He had no idea of knowing, but it was sexy as hell anyway. His curiosity piqued even more when she opted to get into bed on HIS side instead of her own and, instead of crossing the bed to get to her side, she jerked the pillows from behind his back and replaced them with herself, sitting on her knees and pushing him forward.
Without a word, she pulled his shirt over his head and he allowed it to happen and was just about to question her when her thumbs dug into the base of his neck and he let out a moan, his body going limp and turning into complete putty in her hands. "God, you're so tense," she stated quietly as she continued to knead into him.
He could only murmur in agreement. Goddamn that felt so good. With as much brainpower he could muster, he thought long and hard about what it was he could have possibly done to deserve the treatment he was getting tonight, but he came up with nothing. What he knew he needed to do was just to stop trying to question it altogether and just let this ride and just enjoy it. Still, though.
She spent a good, steady half hour on him, never speaking much, never tiring, never complaining. She went over his neck, his shoulders and his entire back, the feeling completely indescribable. He truly believed she'd missed her calling as a massage therapist and he spent a majority of the time silently praying that this wouldn't be the last time this would ever happen.
Disappointed when she stopped, but not daring to vocalize that thought, he turned his head and smiled over his shoulder. "Thank you so much, that was amazing."
Without a response, she climbed around him and placed herself between his legs, close to his body, sitting up on her knees again. "So, furniture was the only thing I shopped for," she said as she unbuttoned the shirt that she'd borrowed from him. "I bought you a little something, too."
"Oh, for me," he clarified.
She winked at him. "Just a little something."
As she opened the shirt, she revealed the black, lace pushup bra she wore underneath and the black lacy panties with the ruffles to match. Her breasts had already almost doubled in size, something he'd been keeping a very close eye on anyway, and this bra just accentuated her new size even more. He got an erection upon instant sight of her and he couldn't keep his hands off of her all of a sudden. "Yes, you certainly did get something for me, didn't you?" He breathed as he ran his hands up the sides of her body. "Goddamn, you've never been sexier than you are right now."
She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him. "Really?"
He nodded, his eyes still taking every inch of her body in. "Yeah. Really." It was the belly that set it off. He didn't dare tell her, but there was something about her being pregnant that seemed to turn him on like nothing ever had before. Was it her growing boobs and ass? Yeah, he knew that had something to do with it. But something else--he couldn't put his finger on it and right now he didn't care. He just wanted her.
Pulling her close to him, he peeled his shirt back off of her shoulders and his mouth went straight for her collar bone, covering every inch of skin he could reach in the position he was sitting in. She hooked an arm around his neck to support herself as she let her head fall back and he grabbed a handful of her ass as his lips trailed from her neck to her mouth.
He wasn't really in the mood to waste much time tonight and he ventured to guess she wasn't either since she wasn't entirely eager to take her bra off and he was perfectly okay with that. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her naked, but the naughty bra excited him and he'd rather she kept it on, at least this time around. However, as much as he hated to see the cute-as-hell ruffles go, he was more interested in what was underneath them and so he thumbed the seam of the panties and pulled down on them hastily, his fingers instantly finding themselves between her legs.
He'd done some reading over the past few weeks and one of his favorite things to read was, apparently women became much more sensitive and much more eager for sex during the second trimester. He had counted down impatiently to the time where she would start being unable to get enough of him and this looked like this might be the start of it. She'd alluded to it yesterday before the whole cell phone thing happened and she hadn't been in the mood after that. But now? This was definitely happening.
He wasn't disappointed. The moment his fingers entered her, she was nearly unable to contain herself. It was almost like he'd hit some kind of magic button or something, she'd never responded to him quite like this before. Curiosity got the better of him and he guided her backward, laying her on her back and pulling her panties the rest of the way off of her legs. She seemed nervous for a split second when he lowered his leg but once his tongue met her, that was all she wrote. She moaned and she writhed underneath him and it took her less than two minutes to come which was more or less an astonishing record.
Leaving her position, she backed him up and she straddled him, barely giving him time to get his shorts out of the way before she was already lowering himself on him. Resting himself on his elbows, then slowly lowering himself onto his back, she used her body weight to press against his chest as she rode him. She didn't even look at him. At this point it was obvious that she merely rode him to get herself off and he had absolutely no problem with that, whatsoever. Tonight it was her face and the sounds that she made that was getting him off, rather than her body. There was something sensual and erotic about the way she enjoyed herself and he almost felt like he wasn't even involved, like he was merely the voyeur. The kicker was, he was fairly certain she wasn't thinking about it that way at all.
After a few minutes, it got to be too much and he had to grip her hips as he grinded himself into her from underneath her. The change in dynamic seemed to hit the spot just right for her because he felt himself coming as her breathing quickened and she was getting close. After muttering a few expletives through her teeth as she came, he came seconds after and they both sat and caught their breaths for a moment before she leaned down for their obligatory celebratory kiss. He would never tell her, but the kiss they always shared after sex was his favorite part. It was intimate, it was romantic, and it was sweet and every once in awhile he would make love to her just to get to that moment.
After collecting articles of clothing and tossing them off the bed and after Mel spent a few minutes in the bathroom, emerging in regular night clothes, they lay in bed together and talked about random things for the next several minutes. As he witnessed Mel's eyes getting heavy, Tay reached over to turn off the bedside lamp and was stopped when her voice startled him. "Oh my god, Tay!"
He looked over at her and she was sitting up in the bed, her eyes wide. Panic struck him instantly. "What? What? Are you okay?"
A smile spread across her face as her hand flew to her stomach. "The baby just moved!"
His smile matched hers of disbelief. "What? Are you serious? Already?"
"Yeah. At least I think so. I've never felt that before!"
"Can you feel it from the outside?"
She looked at him, her eyebrows raised. "I don't know..."
Turning out the light, he scooted down in the bed, pulling her close to him as he spooned her, and pulled the covers over their shoulders. For the rest of the night the pair slept, each with a hand on her stomach in eager anticipation.
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Alternate Jason chapter: http://tyamwedding.weebly.com/the-celebrity-alternate.html