WHAT MUST BE DONE
MEL
The next morning Mel awoke feeling more rested than she had in weeks. She lingered in the bed, stretching in the comfort and warmth of the comforter and the softness of the pillow underneath her head. It sure did beat the sofa, that was for sure.
Smiling, she turned her head to the space next to her and her smile vanished and she sighed. Back to reality. Time to face another day.
Finding Jason gone, she sighed again. He probably hadn't even stayed the entire night. What did she expect? He'd poured his heart out to her and she'd stomped on it--again--for the millionth time and she really didn't have any right in asking him to stay to begin with. She couldn't be mad at him for leaving. She appreciated him for the small amount of time he'd spent with her.
Walking into the living room, she stopped in her tracks when she looked to her right into the doorway of the kitchen. She couldn't help that her heart skipped a beat when she saw Jason's back turned, busy at the sink. Stepping lightly, she entered the kitchen and rested her arms on the small island behind him. "Morning," she greeted him.
He turned around quickly, surprised to see her, and he grinned. "Hey, gorgeous. It's afternoon, actually, but who's counting?"
Mel smiled up at him. "I've kinda missed hearing you call me that."
"I've kinda missed saying it." He winked at her and went back to his business.
"So what are you doing, anyway?"
"I've been busy," he answered as he turned off the faucet and transported an array of fruits from the sink to the island. "I've been cleaning, shopping..."
Mel furrowed her brow in offense. "Cleaning?"
"Helping. That's a better word."
"Helping..."
"You're welcome."
Sheepishly, she fidgeted with her thumbs. "Um, thank you."
"Anyway, then I went shopping." He turned around and retrieved a fat pill bottle from the counter and plopped it down in front of her. "Prenatal vitamins--"
"How do you know I'm not already taking prenatal vitamins?"
"Because I went through your cabinets."
Mel scowled at him.
"Anyway, then I found this fantastic farmer's market with this enormous selection of fruit and I couldn't leave empty-handed. Especially after..." He stopped and eyed Mel as she walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door.
She snapped off a pudding cup and turned to look at him. "Especially after what?"
"Especially after seeing THAT abomination in your fridge this morning."
She looked at him, hurt. "What abomination?"
"You have a fucking pudding factory in your refrigerator!"
Mel placed a hand on her stomach defensively. "We like pudding."
"Oh, so we're a 'we' now? Just yesterday you were debating on keeping it."
She only looked at him, not really sure how to respond.
"Anyway, it's not healthy," he continued. "You can't live on that."
Defeated, she put the pudding cup back in the refrigerator and closed the door. Taking her place back at the island, she watched him as he cut up the fruit he'd bought. And she watched. And she watched. She couldn't help it. She had to allow herself this one, small joy. She drank in his 6'4" physique as his caramel, Hawaiian skin glowed against the white tank top he wore. She looked up at his face, at his sparkling green eyes. She'd missed his eyes. And she missed his hair. She remembered when his hair was long--god it was so sexy when it was long. Not that he wasn't now. He wore his dark hair short and close to his head now and he seemed to be keeping up the subtle beard. Normally Mel hated facial hair, but on Jason it worked. As he concentrated on the fruit, Mel's eyes drifted from his face to his shoulders, and then to his arms. She watched his biceps as he worked the knife into the fruit. The tattoos on his arms rippled as they moved. And what--what was that written on his right arm...?
"Mel?" he asked, shaking her out of her trance. "Are you okay?"
Mel swore she felt herself blushing. Was she blushing? Did he notice? Thinking quickly, she said, "Um, yeah...just trying to identify all the fruit you have here."
Grinning, he told her, "First of all, to find this stuff in September in New York blew my mind."
She smirked. "You don't come here enough."
"Anyway, I just found as close to some Hawaiian fruits as I could find. Bananas, mangoes, melons, pineapple..."
"When's the last time you went home?"
Glancing at her, he started to toss the assorted cut fruit into a bowl. "So I figured I'd mix in a little yogurt, a little coconut..."
"Jason," she pressed. "When's the last time you went home?"
"It's been awhile."
Mel was confused. Completely confused. "If--you just announced--I mean, why wouldn't you go home? It's clear you miss Hawaii. I can see it."
"I'll make my way back. I haven't forgotten where it is."
"What's keeping you?"
As soon as she said it, she clamped her mouth shut. She knew what his answer was. And now she felt like shit for even pressing the issue. She felt so guilty. So incredibly guilty.
Before she could change the subject, a chunk of mango found its way into her mouth. "How's THAT for fresh?" he asked her, changing the subject on his own.
Biting down on it, Mel thought she would have an orgasm right there in the kitchen. This wasn't her first mango, but it was her first piece of fresh fruit in--well, she didn't know when. "Oh my god," she said with her mouth full. "Oh my god, that's magnificent."
Jason smiled as he went back to the fruit. "A lot better than that pudding shit you're living on."
Her eyes widened suddenly. "Oh my god, the pudding!" Darting for the refrigerator, she pulled out cups in every flavor--chocolate, vanilla, and butterscotch--and tossed them into the fruit bowl that Jason had been preparing, jerking it out from underneath him. "You can hold off on all that fancy salad stuff."
"What the hell are you doing?"
She reached in and popped another chunk of mango in her mouth, holding it in her cheek as she spoke. "Do you have any idea how good this would be, dipped in the pudding? I'm gonna try it all!"
As she carried her new treasure into the living room, Jason called behind her, "You're gonna make yourself sick."
"But it'll be good going down!" she called back over her shoulder.
Less than an hour later, after Mel had gorged herself, thrown it all up, and then accused Jason of trying to poison her with the fruit in a random mood swing, Mel sat back on her same cushion, in her same corner on her sofa.
"You gonna be okay?" Jason asked her after they'd been settled for a few minutes.
"Yeah," she said, flipping channels. "I thought I was over this shit."
"Your body probably freaked out over the strange food."
"That's why I eat pudding."
Jason sighed in defeat. "Look, Mel. About yesterday. I, uh, I said some things I shouldn't have said yesterday."
She looked over at him from the television screen. "So you didn't mean it--"
He looked back at her, hard. "I said some things I shouldn't have said. And I don't want to go through the same song and dance we keep on going through. I just want to be there for you. I want us to be friends like we used to be without all this other...stuff. And I know you don't know what's going to happen with Taylor and all--and that's fine--but either way, you're gonna need someone in your court and I want to be that someone. Just friends, just like we used to be. No strings attached."
Mel could only stare at him. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to tell him she felt like shit for taking advantage of him all this time. He could say he stuck around at his own accord all he wanted, but it didn't keep her from feeling any less shitty. But how could he--how could he make it sound so simple? So easy?
She shook the thought out of her mind. "Um, so what do you have to do in the city?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. "So just like that you change the subject. You don't have anything to say?"
"Um...I thought you didn't want to go through the same song and dance?"
He stared at her for a moment before he responded with, "Touche."
She took a deep breath and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I know you have things to do--things you should be doing besides sitting here wasting time with me. But, uh, you think you could stick around just a little longer?"
"Of course. What's up?"
"Um, I have some calls I need to make today. I'd kinda rather not be alone."
Jason nodded. "Yeah. Okay. Do whatever you need to do, I'll be right here."
She smiled graciously. "Thanks. Uh, okay. I guess I'll just get it over with, then."
And with that, she made her way to the desk that had been placed at the panoramic window.
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JASON
As Jason flipped through the magazine he'd picked up from the coffee table, his mind raced. He couldn't believe what he had just done. One of the number one things he had always told Mel was that he would never lie to her. And what had he done? Lied. Lied like a lying dog.
But it was for her own good. It honestly was. He'd meant every goddamn word of what he said yesterday. He wanted to marry her so bad it hurt. But he also wanted to stay in her life and to do that meant to accept her and the decisions she made--whether he agreed with them or not. He didn't know why he continued to torture himself and now he decided he just didn't care anymore. She was what he wanted and he would take her however he could get her.
And then there was the baby. He still couldn't wrap his head around that. On the outside, he was calm, cool, and collected. On the inside, he was freaking out. It was all he could do not to tear Taylor a new asshole. Granted it wasn't his fault he didn't know he'd impregnated his (now ex) fiancée yet, but even when he did--what then? What if they didn't get back together? What if he played the complete douchebag card and decided to just be an absentee father? Jason knew Taylor well enough to know that would never happen, but still--what if?
Jason would take her. He would take her and he would make her his and he would raise that child like it was his own. In a heartbeat, he would make it happen. He had no idea what the fuck he was doing, but as long as he loved her and that child, the rest should come easily.
In the background, he heard Mel on the phone. "Hi, is this Gina? Hi, Gina, this is Melody Banks, how are you? Listen, I needed--um--I needed to talk to you about--about my wedding cake?...Uh, Taylor Hanson, yes...Anyway, um, so, I, uh, I need to cancel that order?...That's right...No, no, I'm not going with another baker, I just--well, we're not getting married...Yes...Yes, I understand...I know, me, too...Okay, well thank you...Yes, I will...Okay...Thank you...Bye."
Glancing over the back of the sofa, he eyed Mel as she put down her phone and rested her elbows on the desk, letting her head collapse in her hands. Her shoulders heaved lightly as she cried silently and he longed to go to her. But he stayed put. As much as it pained him, he knew she did what she felt like she needed to do and he needed to keep his distance. When he saw her wipe her eyes and pick the phone up again, he went back to his magazine.
He listened as she called the bridal shop to stop the alterations on the bridesmaids dresses. He listened as she attempted to stop the efforts on Taylor's wedding band but learned, to her horror, that it had already been shipped. He listened as she called the florist, her hair stylist, and he listened to her have a long conversation with her mother about retractions on wedding invitations. He listened to her cry between every phone call and with each call, he grew more and more furious.
She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to sit there and have to cancel her entire goddamn wedding because this little punk couldn't get his shit together. How could a man get his hands on a woman like her and have no problem just letting her go? How? He knew they'd barely spoken and he knew he never visited--he had no way of knowing whether that was her doing or not, but it didn't matter. If it were Jason in Taylor's shoes--and it wouldn't have been--he would have beat her to the damn condo before she even got there. You didn't just do stupid shit like letting women like her go. You just didn't.
But he had to stay strong and he had to keep it together, because dammit, she still loved Taylor. He didn't know why and he didn't understand it--but she did. And for that he had to keep the fucker alive, as much as he couldn't stand the thought.
Jason must have been lost in his thoughts, because he hadn't noticed Mel returning to her hole on the sofa. "Thank you," she said to him. "I, uh, I've been putting that off for weeks. I really am glad you're here."
"Me, too," he said to her solemnly. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I, um, what do you think about me selling my share of 3CG back to the guys?"
The question caught Jason off guard. That was all she'd done the entire time he'd known her. Well, besides her party planning, which he wished so desperately she would get back into because she was so great at it. To sell off her portion would be like--like she was ending it for real. Was she? Was she trying to end it with Taylor? Surely not..."Um, I actually think that would be smart," he answered honestly. "But do you think they'd buy it back?"
She glowered at him. "Why wouldn't they?"
Jason scoffed. "Can they afford you?"
Mel sighed. "It's not like that. I'd give it away if I had to."
"So you just don't want any part in it, then."
"I don't think it was a good idea to invest in the first place."
"So why did you?"
"Desperation? An excuse? I only wanted to be close to him."
"I know the feeling."
Mel glanced down at her hands and he instantly felt guilty. He really needed to watch his mouth. Seriously.
"Look, I have some appointments in the city over the next few days. I'm going to be busy. But I'll be here if you need me."
"Thanks. I'll be okay."
"I'm serious. If you need me for anything--ANYTHING--you call me. I'll answer. If you feel the slightest tingle or twinge of anything, you call me. Okay?"
She nodded. "Okay"
"I mean it. And while I'm at it, make an appointment with the doctor. I don't even want to think about when your last one was. Don't even tell me."
Mel giggled a little bit and that made him smile. He was glad she still had it in her.
Once out of the building and onto the street into the hot, summer air, it was a completely different ballgame.
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TAYLOR
Taylor was standing in the studio discussing his newly-healed hand with his brothers when his phone rang and he was beyond shocked to see Jason on the screen. Shocked and nervous, that was.
Stepping in the office and closing the door, he sat down at his desk and answered his phone. "Hello?"
"I just left Mel," Jason's deep voice growled into the phone. "And I'll tell you, I didn't like what I saw. Not one fucking bit. So let me tell you how this is going to work. I'm going to give you one last chance to get your head out of your ass and not fuck up again. Got it? Because despite all the cowardly and despicable bullshit you've put that woman through, she still fucking loves you. I don't understand it, but she does. But let me tell you something--if you don't make this right, and if you hurt her again--just one time--then I swear to fucking god, I WILL take her away from here, I WILL change her name, and you will NEVER see her again. You get all that, my friend? NEVER."
Taylor's mouth hung open momentarily and his heart pounded. "Um...what...um...I don't--"
"Look, I'm gonna do you a favor. Don't consider this as me being your friend because I have zero respect for you whatsoever. And it isn't my place to tell you this because it's her news to tell, and she will probably never speak to me again, but I have a feeling she's not gonna say it and you deserve to know, so I'm gonna speak for her. Mel is pregnant. With your child. And it's obvious that she isn't taking care of herself and she looks like hell."
Taylor was floored. He couldn't breathe. His eyes widened and he stared into space. The shock dizzied him. After a moment, when he felt like he could form words, he said, "She--why didn't she tell me?"
"I don't know. I didn't want to pry too much. But she didn't and she made it clear that there was a chance she wouldn't."
"Why wouldn't--shit, Jason, she's not gonna--"
"She referred to it as a 'we' this morning, so I'm pretty sure you're in the clear on that. I was more referring to that fact that she may not be considering coming home."
"She has to. She can't raise that child without--" and then the unthinkable dawned on him. "You're gonna be there aren't you?"
"You get your head out of your ass and your kid won't grow up on the shores of Kauai."
"She's not gonna want to see me--"
"You're having a kid, does she have a choice?" Jason barked into the phone.
"Okay. Okay. You're right, you're right, I just--I can't believe it...how far along is she?" Taylor didn't need to know the answer. He already knew. It was eerie, but he knew he could most likely pinpoint the exact time of conception. He knew it was that day she'd destroyed the bedroom...
"She thinks about three months."
"So it took this time..." he muttered in awe. Then Jason's words sunk in. "Wait, what do you mean, she THINKS?"
"I told you, she hasn't been taking care of herself. I told her to make a doctor's appointment, we'll see how that goes."
"Uh--should I call her or...?"
"You do whatever it takes to fix this. I mean it."
And then the call was terminated.
Taylor sat back in his desk chair, not really knowing that move to make next. He knew what move he WANTED to make. But he was making leaps and bounds in therapy, especially in regards to taking time to think before he reacted.
Think...think...wow...Mel was having a baby. She was pregnant. Really pregnant this time, not just four weeks along and miscarrying. They were talking about an entire trimester. Holy shit. She'd been pregnant when he told her he needed time before they got married. She was pregnant when they made love that night before. She was pregnant when she'd left. She was pregnant when--
She was pregnant that first night on tour when she'd thrown up and accused him of not caring. She was pregnant when she turned down the chardonnay in favor of water that day, citing dehydration. Had she known it then? Surely not.
Pregnant. He was going to be a father. There was no doubt in his mind it was for real this time. Hell, if Jason believed it, it had to be true. That guy could sniff a lie out of the most soulless of individuals. He had no reason to doubt Mel anyway. It's not like she was Natalie, who'd faked not one, but two pregnancies. No, Mel was nothing like Natalie. She wouldn't lie.
Natalie. The blood drained from his face as his mind kept going. Natalie. She'd been in church that day. What the hell had she been in town for? It was the only time he'd seen hide nor hair of her since. 'Nothing good ever happens when that woman's around,' he had said to Mel. 'And I don't want any part of anything she's involved in.'
And then Pastor Derek Bradley told them he couldn't marry them, merely halfway through their sessions.
It dawned on him. How could he have not put two and two together a long time ago? They had known Pastor Bradley for years, both he and Natalie. Been to his house for dinner, gotten along with his wife and kids. And there she sat, third row in church, taking in his every word.
Natalie.
Taylor started to hyperventilate. He tried desperately to remember what he'd been told in therapy, but right now in this moment, it didn't matter. So Taylor needed to relapse for half an hour or so. So what? Hopefully it wouldn't even take that long.
--------------------------------------
Taylor burst into Pastor Derek Bradley's office with the secretary right on his heels. "I told him your appointments were full," she said to him desperately.
Tay slammed his fist down on Derek's desk. "What did she say to you?"
Derek's eyes widened in shock, but Tay didn't care. "What did she SAY?" he repeated, louder.
"Wh--who?"
"Natalie!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You're lying and you know it! I saw her in church that day, the last time Mel and I were there. And then you all of a sudden decided you couldn't marry us? Do you think that was a fucking coincidence?"
"Taylor, I have not seen Nata--"
"STOP LYING, I KNOW SHE SPOKE TO YOU!" Then Tay's voice calmed some. "But then you're going to burn in hell anyway, right, so what does it matter?"
Hesitantly, Derek let it all out. Every sordid detail. From his multiple affairs with Natalie, to his knowledge of her being barren, to every detail of her blackmailing him and her scheme to win Taylor back. Tay wanted to be sick.
"How dare you? How DARE you!" He slammed both of his fists down on Derek's desk now and leaned over in his face. "Do you have any idea what I've been through for the past two months? Do you have any idea how I let your words--your lies--get into my head and affect me? I let her go, Derek! I told her I needed time to marry her because I TOOK YOUR GODFORSAKEN TAINTED ADVICE! And now she's gone! I've ruined everything! She's gone and she's pregnant and I may never see her or my child ever again AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! BECAUSE I ALLOWED YOU TO FUCKING GET INSIDE MY HEAD!"
Tay paced for a moment before he calmed his voice and looked Derek directly in the eye. "You are a sick, despicable, sorry excuse for a human being. I honestly can't believe people still look up to you in that church. I hope that when you die, that you rot in hell for the rest of your miserable existence, may God have mercy on your soul."
And ever so calmly, Taylor walked out of the office.
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Alternate Jason chapter : http://tyamwedding.weebly.com/he-brought-me-fruit.html
MEL
The next morning Mel awoke feeling more rested than she had in weeks. She lingered in the bed, stretching in the comfort and warmth of the comforter and the softness of the pillow underneath her head. It sure did beat the sofa, that was for sure.
Smiling, she turned her head to the space next to her and her smile vanished and she sighed. Back to reality. Time to face another day.
Finding Jason gone, she sighed again. He probably hadn't even stayed the entire night. What did she expect? He'd poured his heart out to her and she'd stomped on it--again--for the millionth time and she really didn't have any right in asking him to stay to begin with. She couldn't be mad at him for leaving. She appreciated him for the small amount of time he'd spent with her.
Walking into the living room, she stopped in her tracks when she looked to her right into the doorway of the kitchen. She couldn't help that her heart skipped a beat when she saw Jason's back turned, busy at the sink. Stepping lightly, she entered the kitchen and rested her arms on the small island behind him. "Morning," she greeted him.
He turned around quickly, surprised to see her, and he grinned. "Hey, gorgeous. It's afternoon, actually, but who's counting?"
Mel smiled up at him. "I've kinda missed hearing you call me that."
"I've kinda missed saying it." He winked at her and went back to his business.
"So what are you doing, anyway?"
"I've been busy," he answered as he turned off the faucet and transported an array of fruits from the sink to the island. "I've been cleaning, shopping..."
Mel furrowed her brow in offense. "Cleaning?"
"Helping. That's a better word."
"Helping..."
"You're welcome."
Sheepishly, she fidgeted with her thumbs. "Um, thank you."
"Anyway, then I went shopping." He turned around and retrieved a fat pill bottle from the counter and plopped it down in front of her. "Prenatal vitamins--"
"How do you know I'm not already taking prenatal vitamins?"
"Because I went through your cabinets."
Mel scowled at him.
"Anyway, then I found this fantastic farmer's market with this enormous selection of fruit and I couldn't leave empty-handed. Especially after..." He stopped and eyed Mel as she walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door.
She snapped off a pudding cup and turned to look at him. "Especially after what?"
"Especially after seeing THAT abomination in your fridge this morning."
She looked at him, hurt. "What abomination?"
"You have a fucking pudding factory in your refrigerator!"
Mel placed a hand on her stomach defensively. "We like pudding."
"Oh, so we're a 'we' now? Just yesterday you were debating on keeping it."
She only looked at him, not really sure how to respond.
"Anyway, it's not healthy," he continued. "You can't live on that."
Defeated, she put the pudding cup back in the refrigerator and closed the door. Taking her place back at the island, she watched him as he cut up the fruit he'd bought. And she watched. And she watched. She couldn't help it. She had to allow herself this one, small joy. She drank in his 6'4" physique as his caramel, Hawaiian skin glowed against the white tank top he wore. She looked up at his face, at his sparkling green eyes. She'd missed his eyes. And she missed his hair. She remembered when his hair was long--god it was so sexy when it was long. Not that he wasn't now. He wore his dark hair short and close to his head now and he seemed to be keeping up the subtle beard. Normally Mel hated facial hair, but on Jason it worked. As he concentrated on the fruit, Mel's eyes drifted from his face to his shoulders, and then to his arms. She watched his biceps as he worked the knife into the fruit. The tattoos on his arms rippled as they moved. And what--what was that written on his right arm...?
"Mel?" he asked, shaking her out of her trance. "Are you okay?"
Mel swore she felt herself blushing. Was she blushing? Did he notice? Thinking quickly, she said, "Um, yeah...just trying to identify all the fruit you have here."
Grinning, he told her, "First of all, to find this stuff in September in New York blew my mind."
She smirked. "You don't come here enough."
"Anyway, I just found as close to some Hawaiian fruits as I could find. Bananas, mangoes, melons, pineapple..."
"When's the last time you went home?"
Glancing at her, he started to toss the assorted cut fruit into a bowl. "So I figured I'd mix in a little yogurt, a little coconut..."
"Jason," she pressed. "When's the last time you went home?"
"It's been awhile."
Mel was confused. Completely confused. "If--you just announced--I mean, why wouldn't you go home? It's clear you miss Hawaii. I can see it."
"I'll make my way back. I haven't forgotten where it is."
"What's keeping you?"
As soon as she said it, she clamped her mouth shut. She knew what his answer was. And now she felt like shit for even pressing the issue. She felt so guilty. So incredibly guilty.
Before she could change the subject, a chunk of mango found its way into her mouth. "How's THAT for fresh?" he asked her, changing the subject on his own.
Biting down on it, Mel thought she would have an orgasm right there in the kitchen. This wasn't her first mango, but it was her first piece of fresh fruit in--well, she didn't know when. "Oh my god," she said with her mouth full. "Oh my god, that's magnificent."
Jason smiled as he went back to the fruit. "A lot better than that pudding shit you're living on."
Her eyes widened suddenly. "Oh my god, the pudding!" Darting for the refrigerator, she pulled out cups in every flavor--chocolate, vanilla, and butterscotch--and tossed them into the fruit bowl that Jason had been preparing, jerking it out from underneath him. "You can hold off on all that fancy salad stuff."
"What the hell are you doing?"
She reached in and popped another chunk of mango in her mouth, holding it in her cheek as she spoke. "Do you have any idea how good this would be, dipped in the pudding? I'm gonna try it all!"
As she carried her new treasure into the living room, Jason called behind her, "You're gonna make yourself sick."
"But it'll be good going down!" she called back over her shoulder.
Less than an hour later, after Mel had gorged herself, thrown it all up, and then accused Jason of trying to poison her with the fruit in a random mood swing, Mel sat back on her same cushion, in her same corner on her sofa.
"You gonna be okay?" Jason asked her after they'd been settled for a few minutes.
"Yeah," she said, flipping channels. "I thought I was over this shit."
"Your body probably freaked out over the strange food."
"That's why I eat pudding."
Jason sighed in defeat. "Look, Mel. About yesterday. I, uh, I said some things I shouldn't have said yesterday."
She looked over at him from the television screen. "So you didn't mean it--"
He looked back at her, hard. "I said some things I shouldn't have said. And I don't want to go through the same song and dance we keep on going through. I just want to be there for you. I want us to be friends like we used to be without all this other...stuff. And I know you don't know what's going to happen with Taylor and all--and that's fine--but either way, you're gonna need someone in your court and I want to be that someone. Just friends, just like we used to be. No strings attached."
Mel could only stare at him. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to tell him she felt like shit for taking advantage of him all this time. He could say he stuck around at his own accord all he wanted, but it didn't keep her from feeling any less shitty. But how could he--how could he make it sound so simple? So easy?
She shook the thought out of her mind. "Um, so what do you have to do in the city?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. "So just like that you change the subject. You don't have anything to say?"
"Um...I thought you didn't want to go through the same song and dance?"
He stared at her for a moment before he responded with, "Touche."
She took a deep breath and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I know you have things to do--things you should be doing besides sitting here wasting time with me. But, uh, you think you could stick around just a little longer?"
"Of course. What's up?"
"Um, I have some calls I need to make today. I'd kinda rather not be alone."
Jason nodded. "Yeah. Okay. Do whatever you need to do, I'll be right here."
She smiled graciously. "Thanks. Uh, okay. I guess I'll just get it over with, then."
And with that, she made her way to the desk that had been placed at the panoramic window.
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JASON
As Jason flipped through the magazine he'd picked up from the coffee table, his mind raced. He couldn't believe what he had just done. One of the number one things he had always told Mel was that he would never lie to her. And what had he done? Lied. Lied like a lying dog.
But it was for her own good. It honestly was. He'd meant every goddamn word of what he said yesterday. He wanted to marry her so bad it hurt. But he also wanted to stay in her life and to do that meant to accept her and the decisions she made--whether he agreed with them or not. He didn't know why he continued to torture himself and now he decided he just didn't care anymore. She was what he wanted and he would take her however he could get her.
And then there was the baby. He still couldn't wrap his head around that. On the outside, he was calm, cool, and collected. On the inside, he was freaking out. It was all he could do not to tear Taylor a new asshole. Granted it wasn't his fault he didn't know he'd impregnated his (now ex) fiancée yet, but even when he did--what then? What if they didn't get back together? What if he played the complete douchebag card and decided to just be an absentee father? Jason knew Taylor well enough to know that would never happen, but still--what if?
Jason would take her. He would take her and he would make her his and he would raise that child like it was his own. In a heartbeat, he would make it happen. He had no idea what the fuck he was doing, but as long as he loved her and that child, the rest should come easily.
In the background, he heard Mel on the phone. "Hi, is this Gina? Hi, Gina, this is Melody Banks, how are you? Listen, I needed--um--I needed to talk to you about--about my wedding cake?...Uh, Taylor Hanson, yes...Anyway, um, so, I, uh, I need to cancel that order?...That's right...No, no, I'm not going with another baker, I just--well, we're not getting married...Yes...Yes, I understand...I know, me, too...Okay, well thank you...Yes, I will...Okay...Thank you...Bye."
Glancing over the back of the sofa, he eyed Mel as she put down her phone and rested her elbows on the desk, letting her head collapse in her hands. Her shoulders heaved lightly as she cried silently and he longed to go to her. But he stayed put. As much as it pained him, he knew she did what she felt like she needed to do and he needed to keep his distance. When he saw her wipe her eyes and pick the phone up again, he went back to his magazine.
He listened as she called the bridal shop to stop the alterations on the bridesmaids dresses. He listened as she attempted to stop the efforts on Taylor's wedding band but learned, to her horror, that it had already been shipped. He listened as she called the florist, her hair stylist, and he listened to her have a long conversation with her mother about retractions on wedding invitations. He listened to her cry between every phone call and with each call, he grew more and more furious.
She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to sit there and have to cancel her entire goddamn wedding because this little punk couldn't get his shit together. How could a man get his hands on a woman like her and have no problem just letting her go? How? He knew they'd barely spoken and he knew he never visited--he had no way of knowing whether that was her doing or not, but it didn't matter. If it were Jason in Taylor's shoes--and it wouldn't have been--he would have beat her to the damn condo before she even got there. You didn't just do stupid shit like letting women like her go. You just didn't.
But he had to stay strong and he had to keep it together, because dammit, she still loved Taylor. He didn't know why and he didn't understand it--but she did. And for that he had to keep the fucker alive, as much as he couldn't stand the thought.
Jason must have been lost in his thoughts, because he hadn't noticed Mel returning to her hole on the sofa. "Thank you," she said to him. "I, uh, I've been putting that off for weeks. I really am glad you're here."
"Me, too," he said to her solemnly. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I, um, what do you think about me selling my share of 3CG back to the guys?"
The question caught Jason off guard. That was all she'd done the entire time he'd known her. Well, besides her party planning, which he wished so desperately she would get back into because she was so great at it. To sell off her portion would be like--like she was ending it for real. Was she? Was she trying to end it with Taylor? Surely not..."Um, I actually think that would be smart," he answered honestly. "But do you think they'd buy it back?"
She glowered at him. "Why wouldn't they?"
Jason scoffed. "Can they afford you?"
Mel sighed. "It's not like that. I'd give it away if I had to."
"So you just don't want any part in it, then."
"I don't think it was a good idea to invest in the first place."
"So why did you?"
"Desperation? An excuse? I only wanted to be close to him."
"I know the feeling."
Mel glanced down at her hands and he instantly felt guilty. He really needed to watch his mouth. Seriously.
"Look, I have some appointments in the city over the next few days. I'm going to be busy. But I'll be here if you need me."
"Thanks. I'll be okay."
"I'm serious. If you need me for anything--ANYTHING--you call me. I'll answer. If you feel the slightest tingle or twinge of anything, you call me. Okay?"
She nodded. "Okay"
"I mean it. And while I'm at it, make an appointment with the doctor. I don't even want to think about when your last one was. Don't even tell me."
Mel giggled a little bit and that made him smile. He was glad she still had it in her.
Once out of the building and onto the street into the hot, summer air, it was a completely different ballgame.
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TAYLOR
Taylor was standing in the studio discussing his newly-healed hand with his brothers when his phone rang and he was beyond shocked to see Jason on the screen. Shocked and nervous, that was.
Stepping in the office and closing the door, he sat down at his desk and answered his phone. "Hello?"
"I just left Mel," Jason's deep voice growled into the phone. "And I'll tell you, I didn't like what I saw. Not one fucking bit. So let me tell you how this is going to work. I'm going to give you one last chance to get your head out of your ass and not fuck up again. Got it? Because despite all the cowardly and despicable bullshit you've put that woman through, she still fucking loves you. I don't understand it, but she does. But let me tell you something--if you don't make this right, and if you hurt her again--just one time--then I swear to fucking god, I WILL take her away from here, I WILL change her name, and you will NEVER see her again. You get all that, my friend? NEVER."
Taylor's mouth hung open momentarily and his heart pounded. "Um...what...um...I don't--"
"Look, I'm gonna do you a favor. Don't consider this as me being your friend because I have zero respect for you whatsoever. And it isn't my place to tell you this because it's her news to tell, and she will probably never speak to me again, but I have a feeling she's not gonna say it and you deserve to know, so I'm gonna speak for her. Mel is pregnant. With your child. And it's obvious that she isn't taking care of herself and she looks like hell."
Taylor was floored. He couldn't breathe. His eyes widened and he stared into space. The shock dizzied him. After a moment, when he felt like he could form words, he said, "She--why didn't she tell me?"
"I don't know. I didn't want to pry too much. But she didn't and she made it clear that there was a chance she wouldn't."
"Why wouldn't--shit, Jason, she's not gonna--"
"She referred to it as a 'we' this morning, so I'm pretty sure you're in the clear on that. I was more referring to that fact that she may not be considering coming home."
"She has to. She can't raise that child without--" and then the unthinkable dawned on him. "You're gonna be there aren't you?"
"You get your head out of your ass and your kid won't grow up on the shores of Kauai."
"She's not gonna want to see me--"
"You're having a kid, does she have a choice?" Jason barked into the phone.
"Okay. Okay. You're right, you're right, I just--I can't believe it...how far along is she?" Taylor didn't need to know the answer. He already knew. It was eerie, but he knew he could most likely pinpoint the exact time of conception. He knew it was that day she'd destroyed the bedroom...
"She thinks about three months."
"So it took this time..." he muttered in awe. Then Jason's words sunk in. "Wait, what do you mean, she THINKS?"
"I told you, she hasn't been taking care of herself. I told her to make a doctor's appointment, we'll see how that goes."
"Uh--should I call her or...?"
"You do whatever it takes to fix this. I mean it."
And then the call was terminated.
Taylor sat back in his desk chair, not really knowing that move to make next. He knew what move he WANTED to make. But he was making leaps and bounds in therapy, especially in regards to taking time to think before he reacted.
Think...think...wow...Mel was having a baby. She was pregnant. Really pregnant this time, not just four weeks along and miscarrying. They were talking about an entire trimester. Holy shit. She'd been pregnant when he told her he needed time before they got married. She was pregnant when they made love that night before. She was pregnant when she'd left. She was pregnant when--
She was pregnant that first night on tour when she'd thrown up and accused him of not caring. She was pregnant when she turned down the chardonnay in favor of water that day, citing dehydration. Had she known it then? Surely not.
Pregnant. He was going to be a father. There was no doubt in his mind it was for real this time. Hell, if Jason believed it, it had to be true. That guy could sniff a lie out of the most soulless of individuals. He had no reason to doubt Mel anyway. It's not like she was Natalie, who'd faked not one, but two pregnancies. No, Mel was nothing like Natalie. She wouldn't lie.
Natalie. The blood drained from his face as his mind kept going. Natalie. She'd been in church that day. What the hell had she been in town for? It was the only time he'd seen hide nor hair of her since. 'Nothing good ever happens when that woman's around,' he had said to Mel. 'And I don't want any part of anything she's involved in.'
And then Pastor Derek Bradley told them he couldn't marry them, merely halfway through their sessions.
It dawned on him. How could he have not put two and two together a long time ago? They had known Pastor Bradley for years, both he and Natalie. Been to his house for dinner, gotten along with his wife and kids. And there she sat, third row in church, taking in his every word.
Natalie.
Taylor started to hyperventilate. He tried desperately to remember what he'd been told in therapy, but right now in this moment, it didn't matter. So Taylor needed to relapse for half an hour or so. So what? Hopefully it wouldn't even take that long.
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Taylor burst into Pastor Derek Bradley's office with the secretary right on his heels. "I told him your appointments were full," she said to him desperately.
Tay slammed his fist down on Derek's desk. "What did she say to you?"
Derek's eyes widened in shock, but Tay didn't care. "What did she SAY?" he repeated, louder.
"Wh--who?"
"Natalie!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You're lying and you know it! I saw her in church that day, the last time Mel and I were there. And then you all of a sudden decided you couldn't marry us? Do you think that was a fucking coincidence?"
"Taylor, I have not seen Nata--"
"STOP LYING, I KNOW SHE SPOKE TO YOU!" Then Tay's voice calmed some. "But then you're going to burn in hell anyway, right, so what does it matter?"
Hesitantly, Derek let it all out. Every sordid detail. From his multiple affairs with Natalie, to his knowledge of her being barren, to every detail of her blackmailing him and her scheme to win Taylor back. Tay wanted to be sick.
"How dare you? How DARE you!" He slammed both of his fists down on Derek's desk now and leaned over in his face. "Do you have any idea what I've been through for the past two months? Do you have any idea how I let your words--your lies--get into my head and affect me? I let her go, Derek! I told her I needed time to marry her because I TOOK YOUR GODFORSAKEN TAINTED ADVICE! And now she's gone! I've ruined everything! She's gone and she's pregnant and I may never see her or my child ever again AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! BECAUSE I ALLOWED YOU TO FUCKING GET INSIDE MY HEAD!"
Tay paced for a moment before he calmed his voice and looked Derek directly in the eye. "You are a sick, despicable, sorry excuse for a human being. I honestly can't believe people still look up to you in that church. I hope that when you die, that you rot in hell for the rest of your miserable existence, may God have mercy on your soul."
And ever so calmly, Taylor walked out of the office.
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Alternate Jason chapter : http://tyamwedding.weebly.com/he-brought-me-fruit.html