THESE DREAMS
MEL
Mel woke from a sound sleep only slightly disoriented. The light from the New York City sunrise shined softly in her room. She couldn't remember the last time she slept in the nude and the white sheet that was wrapped around her felt good against her skin. She found herself in shock, however, as she discovered the initial
reason she'd woken up in the first place. Hugging the sheet to her chest in defense, her left leg still exposed, she sat up to face Jason as he sat, wearing nothing, on the edge of her bed.
"How did you get in here?" Mel whispered.
"You let me in," he answered softly.
She shook her head in response. "That's impossible."
"Nothing's impossible," he said, reaching up to caress her cheek.
His touch sent chills down her spine and she couldn't stop herself as she closed her eyes and turned her face into his hand, kissing his palm. His eyes boring holes into her soul, she reached up and pulled him close to her, kissing his lips tenderly, carefully. Taking in a breath, he deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tongue as she released a nearly inaudible whimper of pleasure into his mouth.
Suddenly, he hooked his left arm around her sheet-covered waist and shifted her around, laying her across the width of the bed. Propping his left elbow next to her so he could see her better, he ran his hand gently up her
still exposed leg, slowly removing parts of the sheet covering her body as he went along.
Mel looked up at him, her heart pounding, her entire body tingling with every touch of his hand. She could feel her chest heaving lightly with each breath she took in anticipation of his next move. He watched her face the entire time, his eyes never once leaving hers each time his hand found a new part of her body to expose. Finally, as he caressed her bare body, he leaned down and kissed her lips. She couldn't stop herself as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for more. As they kissed, she let her hands explore his perfectly-chiseled body. The one he worked countless hours to perfect, making each ripple she ran her hand gently across completely worth it. She had to touch him. She needed to touch him.
Wrapping her legs around him, Jason lifted her off of the bed and onto his lap. Not yet entering her, he swept her long, dark waves from her shoulders and ran his hands down her bare back as he took her mouth with hers
once again. Mel was his. He had a certain magic to him and she couldn't deny herself of him any longer.
His arms holding her close to him, tightly, he leaned his head down to kiss her neck, letting his kisses linger as they trailed her shoulder. When he came back up, he stared into her eyes, his eyes filled with passion and
want. She wanted him. God, how she wanted him. But she heard herself start to speak suddenly. "This can't happen."
He pulled her tighter against him. "It already is," he responded quietly, his voice raspy with desire.
"Why?"
"Because in your dreams, you know this is what you want."
* * * * * *
Mel's eyes snapped open in the darkness of her room. The room she shared with her fiancée. Her heart pounded as she fought to find the bedside lamp in the dark and she turned it on, sitting there long enough to get her bearings. She reached for the bed beside her, the side Taylor normally slept on when they were in the New York City condo together. It was empty. Not a stitch out of place. Not even a wrinkle. She lifted the comforter off of her and looked down at herself, finding herself in the t-shirt and pants she had gone to bed in hours before.
As she looked around the room, relief washed over her that her love-making with Jason, or lack thereof, rather, had only been a dream. She'd done nothing wrong. Still, she was disturbed by the fact that she had the dream
to begin with. And the things he'd said in the dream? She knew what they said about dreams. That they were your subconscious trying to tell you something in some form or another. What the hell was having sex with a man you once desired supposed to mean now?
While she was awake, she figured she might as well take a bathroom break. When she pulled her pants down, she saw it. Blood. Lovely. "So much for welcome home sex," she muttered to herself as she cleaned herself up and took the necessary measures to control the bleeding. Realization made the relief she felt have a nearly dizzying effect on her. Hormones. PMS hormones. THAT was all her dream was. And she'd seen Jason earlier in the day, so naturally...yes. That was definitely it. Nothing more to it.
Strangely enough, the dream made her miss Taylor. She was going home tomorrow, but that wasn't soon enough for her. Not right now. She hated calling him at three in the morning, but she had to hear his voice.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, groggily when he answered.
"I'm sorry I woke you. I just--I just woke up and I--I miss you so much."
"Oh hon," his voice clearing up a little. "You don't worry about waking me. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," Mel said, her voice cracking. Goddammit. She knew this was going to happen. When she was on her period, her emotions were uncontrollable. "I mean, I know I've only been gone for a few days, but--Tay, SO MUCH has happened the past few days, it feels like a lifetime."
"Well. Tell me all about it, I'm right here. It's okay."
"I just--I don't know where to start. I bought my wedding dress, I told you that."
"Yes, you did," he said to her gently. "And I can't wait to see you in it. I can only imagine how beautiful you are in it."
Mel smiled into the phone, attempting to keep tears at bay. "And then--what else--oh, I cut my foot on some glass the night before last. After we got off the phone."
"Mel--"
"I'm okay. Ike got the glass out of my foot. And then--oh god, have you even heard about the Cosmo article yet? I'm surprised if Nikki didn't call or text you about it."
"No. I haven't. What article?"
"Jesus," Mel scoffed a laugh as she wiped her nose, still managing to keep tears at bay. "Drew is this month's cover and she pretty much managed to ruin our friendship in print."
"Oh, Mel..."
"You know what? I don't even give a shit. Fuck her. If she has to spread heinous lies to get herself through the day, well that's her own damn problem. I don't have time for it."
"Well what did it say?"
"You'll have to Google it or something and read it for yourself. I don't even want to repeat it anymore, I'm so done with it. Also, Ike may have found us a venue to get married in. In Texas. I want to contact them as soon as possible and I want us to fly down to check it out. I don't want it to get booked up. It's called The Corinthian and it's in Houston. It's gorgeous and it's perfect."
"Well how 'bout if I make a call tomorrow?"
"Oh, Tay, would you? That would be wonderful!"
"I'd do anything for you."
Mel smiled into the phone. "God, there's so much more. Um, so I got approached today, at the magazine stand. Uh, Maxim Magazine wants me to be in an upcoming issue."
Tay cleared his throat before he spoke. "Uh, do what? Are you sure it was Maxim? I mean, magazines don't typically just randomly pick up people in the streets..."
"Yes, it was Maxim. They've apparently been trying to reach me for awhile. Anyway, he said I could cater my contract however I wanted."
"Are you considering this?"
"I don't know...what do you think?"
"Um...I mean...Maxim's--well, they're a little revealing, aren't they?"
"They said it would be tasteful."
Tay laughed. "When's the last time you flipped through a Maxim magazine?"
Admittedly, Mel hadn't actually flipped through the one she bought at the stand earlier in the day. But everyone was familiar with it anyway. She didn't have to read an issue to know what she was getting herself
into. "I don't know...I think it might be fun to get a little glammed up and stuff."
He sighed. "I--well, you know, if you don't have a problem with it, I say go for it."
"Seriously?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Is this a trap?"
He laughed again. "No, it's not a trap. If it's something you want to do, do it. I think it's kind of exciting, actually."
Mel grinned so hard her cheeks hurt. "Really? You do?"
"Well I kinda need you here to express just how exciting I MIGHT think it is..."
"I got my period."
"Aaand, now the moment's gone."
"I'm sorry," she giggled. "I didn't want you to get your hopes up when I come home tomorrow."
"I'll survive, I guess. So what else you got for me? Sounds like a loaded weekend already."
"Why didn't you tell me about the tour?"
"Oh god. Are we gonna fight?"
"No. I just--you're apparently planning a tour during a crucial part of wedding planning. You guys gotta get fitted for tuxes, we need to pick out the cake and food and--there's a lot of small things that come into play so
close to the wedding and--you'll be gone. Why not tour afterward?"
"It won't be that bad, Mel, I promise. It's not as many dates as you think. I can fly in and out for whatever we have to do. Trust me, our wedding is number one on my priority list."
"Number one, Tay? Really?"
"It's--it's up there...look, marrying you is number one on my priority list. I'll do whatever it takes to get there. Okay? I love you."
"I said yes to being in charge of the 3CG office here."
"You did? Fantastic."
"Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"Sometimes things slip my mind. And this is kind of Ike's baby, so I decided to just let him handle it. I'm sorry. I swear it's not personal. Besides, I try not to discuss work at home, you know."
"Tay..." she scolded.
"Okay, okay, I try not to bring the BUSINESS home. The music is completely different."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna run off here and go back to sleep. Thank you for waking up and answering the phone. I love you so much."
"Hey, come home to me tomorrow, okay? And then we'll spend all night tomorrow night and all day the next day talking about the wedding."
"Promise?"
"Cross my heart."
Satisfied, and feeling much better, Mel lay back down, having no trouble at all finding sleep.
----------------------
After two more committee meetings and a phone conversation with Sean Wills, Mel was finally at home in Tulsa with her man and her cat. Taylor was such a sight for sore eyes, she had a hard time keeping both her hands and her lips off of him for the rest of the night. She knew she was being annoyingly clingy but she didn't care and he didn't seem to mind, either. She was so exhausted she even put off wedding talk for the rest of the night. "We'll save it for tomorrow," she told him. "Tonight I just want you to hold me."
As they sat up in bed, an old black and white movie displayed on their television, Tay held her close to him and kissed the top of her head. "So I have some news for you."
She smiled snuggling closer to him. "Do tell."
"I called the Corinthian today. Got an appointment to go give it a look next week."
Mel sat up and grinned at her fiancée. "Really? You did? I'm so excited!"
He smiled back at her. "I did. I Googled it, too, before I called. You're right, it's perfect. You know, the more this becomes a reality, the more eager I get for the day to get here. I've lived my life to hear you pronounced as Mrs. Jordan Taylor Hanson."
She sighed and laid her head back on his shoulder. "God, Tay, if we get this venue...then everything else will just move right along. We could very possibly have this thing planned before you even go on tour. Providing there are no hiccups along the way."
"Now that's the spirit. We're going to do this together and it'll be great. Just you and me against the world. I promise."
Mel bit her lip and smiled in excitement. Suddenly, she couldn't wait for the morning to come.
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TAYLOR
Mel sat at the marble-top island at the kitchen in her pajamas, her ponytail, and her glasses with a legal pad and laptop to the left of her as she munched on her breakfast and got down to business. Taylor snapped a
picture of her. He couldn't help it. She was easily the most adorable thing he ever laid eyes on. He had missed her over the weekend. Desperately. Desperately enough to pick a drunken fight with her and he was still beating himself up over it. But she had walked straight through the front door and directly into his arms and didn't let go of him for the rest of the night. He was easily the luckiest man in the world.
She sat cross-legged in the barstool with Fred curled up sound asleep in her lap. He had missed her, too. That damn cat cried nonstop every single night at bedtime, making sleep difficult for Tay. When he'd finally
accepted that his mother wasn't coming to bed, he settled for Tay and curled up next to him in the bed and managed to sleep through the night.
Before he had even had a chance to settle in the barstool next to her, she already had a running list. "You know the hardest list to make is going to be the guest list, don't you?" she said.
"Seriously? The guest list is gonna be a hard list?"
"Well we don't need a wedding with 500 guests or anything."
"Well, no, I never anticipated it being THAT huge..."
"Right. But that's gonna be the longest list. We'll go over that a little later. But soon, though, cause we gotta send out invitations. Oh yeah, we gotta pick those out, too! Oh, I can't wait to get the invitations!"
Tay couldn't help but smile at her as her eyes glittered over something as simple as a piece of stationary. Her current list was long, and detailed, and though she asked his opinion on everything, the truth was, it didn't really matter to him what went on with the wedding. He just wanted to marry her. But she wanted him to be involved in every part of it and after the way he'd acted while she was in New York, he was at her eminent mercy.
"I want red and white and candles. Black wrought iron. Tall candles. Like, seven feet. Tiered, both sides of the aisle at the front. White pillar candles. Tallest first, then tapering down, maybe five feet at their shortest. Maybe four and a half feet. What do you think?"
She was spouting her ideas out as they came to mind, jotting them down as she spoke. "I don't know, though...that might be a little too much compared to my dress...actually, the entire venue is probably too much to my dress...oh my god, Tay, what have I done?"
He couldn't help but laugh at her as he took the legal pad and pen from her hand. "Slow down, you're thinking too much into it. Look, try this." Quickly he sketched out the visual she had just said out loud, based on the venue they hoped to book. "Okay, here. How's that?"
She leaned over, close to him, and looked at what he had just sketched. She bit her lip in concentration, then she smiled. He loved it when he made her smile. "What about the aisle?" she asked. "Do we need something to separate the guests from the wedding party or do we just leave it open?"
"Um...I guess you could go either way...
"I mean that would be all I need, to trip over someone's foot or something. You know I'd do it."
Tay laughed. "Well, anything you put there isn't going to prevent that from happening. And besides, judging by the pictures, we're working on a limited amount of horizontal space there. We'll keep that thought on the back burner till we actually see the venue."
"Bring that sketch when we go," she said, her eyes still lit up like a child at Christmas.
"Okay," he agreed, unable to take his eyes off her.
"You know..." she said, thoughtfully. "I'm not sure I need much more décor than that...I think I'd rather keep it simple. The venue is gorgeous on its own."
"Roses?"
"Absolutely. Red ones. With baby's breath."
"Anything you want."
"We have to choose our wedding parties. We have our best man and matron of honor, but that's it."
"Zac has our flower girl and ring bearer."
"No kids."
"What?" Tay was surprised to hear that. "What do you mean, they're family."
"I don't mean not at the wedding. I mean not IN the wedding. I don't--I don't think kids should be in weddings. It's too much hassle. Think about it."
He shrugged. "Well, I mean, I see your point. Mom will be so disappointed, though, when she doesn't get to make Junia's dress..."
"She can still make her a dress. I'm just choosing not to have children in the wedding. It's nothing personal. I love Zac's kids. I love all our nephews and little Junie, but--no flower girl and ring bearer. Tay, they'll just be miserable during the ceremony. No child should have to go through that, seriously."
Tay nodded. "Are Nikki and your mother upset they didn't get to go dress shopping with you?"
Mel looked at him sheepishly. "Uh, they don't know yet..."
He laughed in amusement. "Damn..."
"It was a spur of the moment thing, I swear! Ask Ike! We were only in the shop for, like, twenty minutes! That's all it took! Besides, there's still bridesmaid dress shopping, so...they didn't TOTALLY miss out..."
He shook his head. "You're a piece of work, you know that? Hey, where is that thing, anyway? How come you didn't bring it home?"
"I left it in New York. It'll be okay there for a bit. I'm going back in two weeks anyway, for the EMS benefit, so. It'll be okay. Besides, it's not like YOU need to see it," she teased.
They spent the rest of the morning immersed in wedding talk. Tay had to admit, he was slightly overwhelmed at how detailed it actually got. It was no wonder Mel was freaking out in the beginning. It was when she
instructed him absolutely no vests or cummerbunds with the tuxes that he realized just involved everything was. "I hate vests and cummerbunds," she said to him. "They're like a 1986 prom nightmare."
By the time they'd exhausted the topic for the time-being, they'd decided that red and white were their colors, red only coming from the flowers and the bridesmaid dresses, Mel nearly had the style of dress for the bridesmaids planned out, they'd decided to write their own vows, and that their wedding décor would be minimal and simple with the candles she so desperately wanted. By the end of it all, Tay was exhausted but Mel was still raring to go. He needed a nap.
He got up from his barstool and stretched, scooping Fred off the floor. "Where are you going?" Mel asked.
"We need a nap. My brain is fried and this guy...well he sleeps all day anyway, so that's a given. If you need me--like if the house is burning down or something--I'll be on the couch."
MEL
Mel woke from a sound sleep only slightly disoriented. The light from the New York City sunrise shined softly in her room. She couldn't remember the last time she slept in the nude and the white sheet that was wrapped around her felt good against her skin. She found herself in shock, however, as she discovered the initial
reason she'd woken up in the first place. Hugging the sheet to her chest in defense, her left leg still exposed, she sat up to face Jason as he sat, wearing nothing, on the edge of her bed.
"How did you get in here?" Mel whispered.
"You let me in," he answered softly.
She shook her head in response. "That's impossible."
"Nothing's impossible," he said, reaching up to caress her cheek.
His touch sent chills down her spine and she couldn't stop herself as she closed her eyes and turned her face into his hand, kissing his palm. His eyes boring holes into her soul, she reached up and pulled him close to her, kissing his lips tenderly, carefully. Taking in a breath, he deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tongue as she released a nearly inaudible whimper of pleasure into his mouth.
Suddenly, he hooked his left arm around her sheet-covered waist and shifted her around, laying her across the width of the bed. Propping his left elbow next to her so he could see her better, he ran his hand gently up her
still exposed leg, slowly removing parts of the sheet covering her body as he went along.
Mel looked up at him, her heart pounding, her entire body tingling with every touch of his hand. She could feel her chest heaving lightly with each breath she took in anticipation of his next move. He watched her face the entire time, his eyes never once leaving hers each time his hand found a new part of her body to expose. Finally, as he caressed her bare body, he leaned down and kissed her lips. She couldn't stop herself as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for more. As they kissed, she let her hands explore his perfectly-chiseled body. The one he worked countless hours to perfect, making each ripple she ran her hand gently across completely worth it. She had to touch him. She needed to touch him.
Wrapping her legs around him, Jason lifted her off of the bed and onto his lap. Not yet entering her, he swept her long, dark waves from her shoulders and ran his hands down her bare back as he took her mouth with hers
once again. Mel was his. He had a certain magic to him and she couldn't deny herself of him any longer.
His arms holding her close to him, tightly, he leaned his head down to kiss her neck, letting his kisses linger as they trailed her shoulder. When he came back up, he stared into her eyes, his eyes filled with passion and
want. She wanted him. God, how she wanted him. But she heard herself start to speak suddenly. "This can't happen."
He pulled her tighter against him. "It already is," he responded quietly, his voice raspy with desire.
"Why?"
"Because in your dreams, you know this is what you want."
* * * * * *
Mel's eyes snapped open in the darkness of her room. The room she shared with her fiancée. Her heart pounded as she fought to find the bedside lamp in the dark and she turned it on, sitting there long enough to get her bearings. She reached for the bed beside her, the side Taylor normally slept on when they were in the New York City condo together. It was empty. Not a stitch out of place. Not even a wrinkle. She lifted the comforter off of her and looked down at herself, finding herself in the t-shirt and pants she had gone to bed in hours before.
As she looked around the room, relief washed over her that her love-making with Jason, or lack thereof, rather, had only been a dream. She'd done nothing wrong. Still, she was disturbed by the fact that she had the dream
to begin with. And the things he'd said in the dream? She knew what they said about dreams. That they were your subconscious trying to tell you something in some form or another. What the hell was having sex with a man you once desired supposed to mean now?
While she was awake, she figured she might as well take a bathroom break. When she pulled her pants down, she saw it. Blood. Lovely. "So much for welcome home sex," she muttered to herself as she cleaned herself up and took the necessary measures to control the bleeding. Realization made the relief she felt have a nearly dizzying effect on her. Hormones. PMS hormones. THAT was all her dream was. And she'd seen Jason earlier in the day, so naturally...yes. That was definitely it. Nothing more to it.
Strangely enough, the dream made her miss Taylor. She was going home tomorrow, but that wasn't soon enough for her. Not right now. She hated calling him at three in the morning, but she had to hear his voice.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, groggily when he answered.
"I'm sorry I woke you. I just--I just woke up and I--I miss you so much."
"Oh hon," his voice clearing up a little. "You don't worry about waking me. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," Mel said, her voice cracking. Goddammit. She knew this was going to happen. When she was on her period, her emotions were uncontrollable. "I mean, I know I've only been gone for a few days, but--Tay, SO MUCH has happened the past few days, it feels like a lifetime."
"Well. Tell me all about it, I'm right here. It's okay."
"I just--I don't know where to start. I bought my wedding dress, I told you that."
"Yes, you did," he said to her gently. "And I can't wait to see you in it. I can only imagine how beautiful you are in it."
Mel smiled into the phone, attempting to keep tears at bay. "And then--what else--oh, I cut my foot on some glass the night before last. After we got off the phone."
"Mel--"
"I'm okay. Ike got the glass out of my foot. And then--oh god, have you even heard about the Cosmo article yet? I'm surprised if Nikki didn't call or text you about it."
"No. I haven't. What article?"
"Jesus," Mel scoffed a laugh as she wiped her nose, still managing to keep tears at bay. "Drew is this month's cover and she pretty much managed to ruin our friendship in print."
"Oh, Mel..."
"You know what? I don't even give a shit. Fuck her. If she has to spread heinous lies to get herself through the day, well that's her own damn problem. I don't have time for it."
"Well what did it say?"
"You'll have to Google it or something and read it for yourself. I don't even want to repeat it anymore, I'm so done with it. Also, Ike may have found us a venue to get married in. In Texas. I want to contact them as soon as possible and I want us to fly down to check it out. I don't want it to get booked up. It's called The Corinthian and it's in Houston. It's gorgeous and it's perfect."
"Well how 'bout if I make a call tomorrow?"
"Oh, Tay, would you? That would be wonderful!"
"I'd do anything for you."
Mel smiled into the phone. "God, there's so much more. Um, so I got approached today, at the magazine stand. Uh, Maxim Magazine wants me to be in an upcoming issue."
Tay cleared his throat before he spoke. "Uh, do what? Are you sure it was Maxim? I mean, magazines don't typically just randomly pick up people in the streets..."
"Yes, it was Maxim. They've apparently been trying to reach me for awhile. Anyway, he said I could cater my contract however I wanted."
"Are you considering this?"
"I don't know...what do you think?"
"Um...I mean...Maxim's--well, they're a little revealing, aren't they?"
"They said it would be tasteful."
Tay laughed. "When's the last time you flipped through a Maxim magazine?"
Admittedly, Mel hadn't actually flipped through the one she bought at the stand earlier in the day. But everyone was familiar with it anyway. She didn't have to read an issue to know what she was getting herself
into. "I don't know...I think it might be fun to get a little glammed up and stuff."
He sighed. "I--well, you know, if you don't have a problem with it, I say go for it."
"Seriously?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Is this a trap?"
He laughed again. "No, it's not a trap. If it's something you want to do, do it. I think it's kind of exciting, actually."
Mel grinned so hard her cheeks hurt. "Really? You do?"
"Well I kinda need you here to express just how exciting I MIGHT think it is..."
"I got my period."
"Aaand, now the moment's gone."
"I'm sorry," she giggled. "I didn't want you to get your hopes up when I come home tomorrow."
"I'll survive, I guess. So what else you got for me? Sounds like a loaded weekend already."
"Why didn't you tell me about the tour?"
"Oh god. Are we gonna fight?"
"No. I just--you're apparently planning a tour during a crucial part of wedding planning. You guys gotta get fitted for tuxes, we need to pick out the cake and food and--there's a lot of small things that come into play so
close to the wedding and--you'll be gone. Why not tour afterward?"
"It won't be that bad, Mel, I promise. It's not as many dates as you think. I can fly in and out for whatever we have to do. Trust me, our wedding is number one on my priority list."
"Number one, Tay? Really?"
"It's--it's up there...look, marrying you is number one on my priority list. I'll do whatever it takes to get there. Okay? I love you."
"I said yes to being in charge of the 3CG office here."
"You did? Fantastic."
"Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"Sometimes things slip my mind. And this is kind of Ike's baby, so I decided to just let him handle it. I'm sorry. I swear it's not personal. Besides, I try not to discuss work at home, you know."
"Tay..." she scolded.
"Okay, okay, I try not to bring the BUSINESS home. The music is completely different."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna run off here and go back to sleep. Thank you for waking up and answering the phone. I love you so much."
"Hey, come home to me tomorrow, okay? And then we'll spend all night tomorrow night and all day the next day talking about the wedding."
"Promise?"
"Cross my heart."
Satisfied, and feeling much better, Mel lay back down, having no trouble at all finding sleep.
----------------------
After two more committee meetings and a phone conversation with Sean Wills, Mel was finally at home in Tulsa with her man and her cat. Taylor was such a sight for sore eyes, she had a hard time keeping both her hands and her lips off of him for the rest of the night. She knew she was being annoyingly clingy but she didn't care and he didn't seem to mind, either. She was so exhausted she even put off wedding talk for the rest of the night. "We'll save it for tomorrow," she told him. "Tonight I just want you to hold me."
As they sat up in bed, an old black and white movie displayed on their television, Tay held her close to him and kissed the top of her head. "So I have some news for you."
She smiled snuggling closer to him. "Do tell."
"I called the Corinthian today. Got an appointment to go give it a look next week."
Mel sat up and grinned at her fiancée. "Really? You did? I'm so excited!"
He smiled back at her. "I did. I Googled it, too, before I called. You're right, it's perfect. You know, the more this becomes a reality, the more eager I get for the day to get here. I've lived my life to hear you pronounced as Mrs. Jordan Taylor Hanson."
She sighed and laid her head back on his shoulder. "God, Tay, if we get this venue...then everything else will just move right along. We could very possibly have this thing planned before you even go on tour. Providing there are no hiccups along the way."
"Now that's the spirit. We're going to do this together and it'll be great. Just you and me against the world. I promise."
Mel bit her lip and smiled in excitement. Suddenly, she couldn't wait for the morning to come.
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TAYLOR
Mel sat at the marble-top island at the kitchen in her pajamas, her ponytail, and her glasses with a legal pad and laptop to the left of her as she munched on her breakfast and got down to business. Taylor snapped a
picture of her. He couldn't help it. She was easily the most adorable thing he ever laid eyes on. He had missed her over the weekend. Desperately. Desperately enough to pick a drunken fight with her and he was still beating himself up over it. But she had walked straight through the front door and directly into his arms and didn't let go of him for the rest of the night. He was easily the luckiest man in the world.
She sat cross-legged in the barstool with Fred curled up sound asleep in her lap. He had missed her, too. That damn cat cried nonstop every single night at bedtime, making sleep difficult for Tay. When he'd finally
accepted that his mother wasn't coming to bed, he settled for Tay and curled up next to him in the bed and managed to sleep through the night.
Before he had even had a chance to settle in the barstool next to her, she already had a running list. "You know the hardest list to make is going to be the guest list, don't you?" she said.
"Seriously? The guest list is gonna be a hard list?"
"Well we don't need a wedding with 500 guests or anything."
"Well, no, I never anticipated it being THAT huge..."
"Right. But that's gonna be the longest list. We'll go over that a little later. But soon, though, cause we gotta send out invitations. Oh yeah, we gotta pick those out, too! Oh, I can't wait to get the invitations!"
Tay couldn't help but smile at her as her eyes glittered over something as simple as a piece of stationary. Her current list was long, and detailed, and though she asked his opinion on everything, the truth was, it didn't really matter to him what went on with the wedding. He just wanted to marry her. But she wanted him to be involved in every part of it and after the way he'd acted while she was in New York, he was at her eminent mercy.
"I want red and white and candles. Black wrought iron. Tall candles. Like, seven feet. Tiered, both sides of the aisle at the front. White pillar candles. Tallest first, then tapering down, maybe five feet at their shortest. Maybe four and a half feet. What do you think?"
She was spouting her ideas out as they came to mind, jotting them down as she spoke. "I don't know, though...that might be a little too much compared to my dress...actually, the entire venue is probably too much to my dress...oh my god, Tay, what have I done?"
He couldn't help but laugh at her as he took the legal pad and pen from her hand. "Slow down, you're thinking too much into it. Look, try this." Quickly he sketched out the visual she had just said out loud, based on the venue they hoped to book. "Okay, here. How's that?"
She leaned over, close to him, and looked at what he had just sketched. She bit her lip in concentration, then she smiled. He loved it when he made her smile. "What about the aisle?" she asked. "Do we need something to separate the guests from the wedding party or do we just leave it open?"
"Um...I guess you could go either way...
"I mean that would be all I need, to trip over someone's foot or something. You know I'd do it."
Tay laughed. "Well, anything you put there isn't going to prevent that from happening. And besides, judging by the pictures, we're working on a limited amount of horizontal space there. We'll keep that thought on the back burner till we actually see the venue."
"Bring that sketch when we go," she said, her eyes still lit up like a child at Christmas.
"Okay," he agreed, unable to take his eyes off her.
"You know..." she said, thoughtfully. "I'm not sure I need much more décor than that...I think I'd rather keep it simple. The venue is gorgeous on its own."
"Roses?"
"Absolutely. Red ones. With baby's breath."
"Anything you want."
"We have to choose our wedding parties. We have our best man and matron of honor, but that's it."
"Zac has our flower girl and ring bearer."
"No kids."
"What?" Tay was surprised to hear that. "What do you mean, they're family."
"I don't mean not at the wedding. I mean not IN the wedding. I don't--I don't think kids should be in weddings. It's too much hassle. Think about it."
He shrugged. "Well, I mean, I see your point. Mom will be so disappointed, though, when she doesn't get to make Junia's dress..."
"She can still make her a dress. I'm just choosing not to have children in the wedding. It's nothing personal. I love Zac's kids. I love all our nephews and little Junie, but--no flower girl and ring bearer. Tay, they'll just be miserable during the ceremony. No child should have to go through that, seriously."
Tay nodded. "Are Nikki and your mother upset they didn't get to go dress shopping with you?"
Mel looked at him sheepishly. "Uh, they don't know yet..."
He laughed in amusement. "Damn..."
"It was a spur of the moment thing, I swear! Ask Ike! We were only in the shop for, like, twenty minutes! That's all it took! Besides, there's still bridesmaid dress shopping, so...they didn't TOTALLY miss out..."
He shook his head. "You're a piece of work, you know that? Hey, where is that thing, anyway? How come you didn't bring it home?"
"I left it in New York. It'll be okay there for a bit. I'm going back in two weeks anyway, for the EMS benefit, so. It'll be okay. Besides, it's not like YOU need to see it," she teased.
They spent the rest of the morning immersed in wedding talk. Tay had to admit, he was slightly overwhelmed at how detailed it actually got. It was no wonder Mel was freaking out in the beginning. It was when she
instructed him absolutely no vests or cummerbunds with the tuxes that he realized just involved everything was. "I hate vests and cummerbunds," she said to him. "They're like a 1986 prom nightmare."
By the time they'd exhausted the topic for the time-being, they'd decided that red and white were their colors, red only coming from the flowers and the bridesmaid dresses, Mel nearly had the style of dress for the bridesmaids planned out, they'd decided to write their own vows, and that their wedding décor would be minimal and simple with the candles she so desperately wanted. By the end of it all, Tay was exhausted but Mel was still raring to go. He needed a nap.
He got up from his barstool and stretched, scooping Fred off the floor. "Where are you going?" Mel asked.
"We need a nap. My brain is fried and this guy...well he sleeps all day anyway, so that's a given. If you need me--like if the house is burning down or something--I'll be on the couch."