How hard would it be to convince everyone I was sick?

That was the biggest question on my mind at the moment. If I was sick, they wouldn’t mind if I didn’t go to the bar tonight. It wouldn’t be questioned, everyone would just let it go. Staal would be easy to convince. If I acted miserable enough he’d go all brotherly and demand I stay home. That’s just how he was. Raychel, however, was a whole other story. She could always tell when I was sick, usually before I could. And she knew when I was faking, which is never a problem… until she’s demanding I go somewhere that I don’t want to go. Then I’m fucked.

Maybe I could get Tyler to distract her? That might work. Hell, she may not have even realized that I’m not getting ready yet. She’s awfully engrossed in the man at the moment since he’s walking around without his shirt yet again.

“Taylor Gabrielle! Are you ready yet?!”

Or not. Fuck my life.

I groaned and rolled off my bed, slowly cracking my door open to stare down at Raychel. She was wearing a light blue and white gingham dress with a black cropped cardigan that she had stolen from me. Her hair was pulled back loosely with curls falling down her back, and her makeup was done to perfection. All that was missing was her shoes. Shit.

“You’re still in your fucking pajamas?!” she screeched, shoving the door wide open and pushing me out of the way. “What the fuck is wrong with you woman?! It takes you forever to get ready, and you’re just sitting on your ass!”

“I’m not going,” I shrugged, trudging back to my bed lazily.

“Oh yes you are,” she snapped, stomping after me and shoving me before I could sit down on my bed. “You get in your closet and you find something nice to wear.”

“Seriously Ray, I’m not going to go,” I groaned, flopping my head back and glaring at the ceiling. You’d think she would understand how hard this was, and how much it was going to hurt.

“Like hell you aren’t. Sammy will throw a hissy fit if you aren’t there, and then Max will whine and demand to come see you. And I’ll have to talk those two out of fawning over you to make sure you’re okay, and that’s just a hell of a lot more trouble than it’s worth,” she rambled as she began to dig through my closet.

“But Ray-“

“No! I don’t want to hear it, okay? I’ve let you pout over losing Max for too long. If you’re just going to let her have him, then you’re not allowed to sit here and wallow in self pity anymore, understand?” she snapped. “You’re going to move on with your life, find someone new who loves you as much as you love them, and you’re going to show Talbot exactly what he’s missing out on. Now, put on this dress while I grab your shoes,” she ordered, tossing a dress at me before going back to digging in my closet.

The dress she had picked out was actually one of my favorites, but I never really wore it. I guess the situation had never called for it, but apparently this one did. It was a pleated dress with an empire waist and a bit on the short side for me, but not so much that it looked trashy. The material was light and flowing, an array of blues, teals, browns, and bronze tones. Raychel called it my peacock dress. A pair of gold sling back heels were thrown at me before she stormed out of my room, yelling a warning that I had fifteen minutes to do my hair and makeup.

Well, doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to get out of this after all.

“Another drink ladies?”

I grinned up at Pascal as he sat my drink in front of me and gave Sarah, his girlfriend, hers. I could always count on Duper to have my back, he was like my big brother. A lot of times that fucker knew I was upset before I did, a lot like Jordan. Except Duper would never let me get as drunk as Jordan does.

“Thanks ducky,” Sarah smiled at her boyfriend, kissing his cheek and taking a sip of her drink. A lot of people had been upset when Sarah and Pascal got together. It was a rather sticky situation to be honest, because he had just got a divorce from his wife, whom was well liked among the team and their significant others, and wound up dating Sarah… who had been Maeva, Kody, and Zoe’s babysitter for a while. Rumors had gone around that Duper had actually left Carolyn for Sarah, which fueled the fire even more. Most of the wives and girlfriends didn’t give her a chance, assuming that she was a homewrecker or gold digger because of the age difference.

Sarah had wound up falling in with Raychel, Sammy, and I, as well as Sid’s girlfriend, Lyndsey. We were the younger ones of the bunch, the ones that stuck around anyway, so we were much less judgmental. That, and I had known Pascal and Carolyn were having problems all along, so I knew that Sarah had nothing to do with the divorce. Not that it would be anyone’s business if she did.

“So, has Silly Sammy tried to enlighten us all with a universal truth yet?” Pascal asked, looking between his girlfriend and I. I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to talk about it. Technically, I shouldn’t say anything bad about the girl, she was one of my best friends, but honestly… that girl said some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard in my life.

“Ana asked her what her wedding colors were going to be,” Sarah began, pausing to take a sip of her drink. “Apparently, she thought they were going to be pink and zebra print. Max disagreed.”

“Ha! I’ll bet he did!” Duper howled in laughter, slapping the table and reaching across me to nudge Kris. “See why I like hanging out with that girl Tanger? She’s a hoot.”

“She’s an idiot,” Kris muttered into his glass. He’d never been a huge fan of Sammy, but when she’d moved in with Max it had moved from casual indifference to extreme dislike. I never understood why, Sammy tried to be nice to him, but she was known to make unintentionally bitchy comments. I caught them all the time. That’s probably what she did to Kris, but it still doesn’t excuse him always being an ass to her.

“She isn’t an idiot Kris,” I sighed, frowning at him as he scoffed.

“Taylor, she thought Canada was next to Russia,” he countered, not even batting an eyelash. “She’s an idiot.”

“Okay, in her defense, the mass amounts of snow confused her.”

“She was born wit’ one state between ‘er and the Canadian border, there is no defense for that,” he grinned, shaking his head. “I know she’s you friend, but she isn’ very bright.”

“She’s bright, she’s just…” I trailed off once I noticed his skeptical look. “Okay, so she isn’t very bright. But she’s a good person.”

“If you say so,” he shrugged, returning to his drink without saying another word.

He is a strange man sometimes.

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” Raychel cheered, grabbing everyone’s attention as she bounced around in her seat. Good God, she was already buzzing something awful. Tyler must feel like getting frisky tonight. “Max, did Sammy tell you about her nickname in school?”

“No, what was it?” he asked, smiling as Sammy began to blush.

“Oh it was so good!” Raychel giggled, trying to calm herself to speak. Though, as soon as she managed that, she went right back into another round of laughter. Yup, she’s in a good mood.

“You talking about Hammy Sammy?” I asked, the corners of my lips twitching into a smile when I saw how mortified Sam looked.

“No, no, no!” Raychel chuckled with a shake of her head. “I’m talking about the one she got when she wasn’t fat anymore.”

“She was never fat,” Max began to defend his girl, but Raychel and I cut him off.

“Oh no, she was fat.”

“They’re right,” Sammy sighed sadly. “I was fat.”

“You weren’t fat baby, you were… fluffy,” he tried yet again. Sammy just giggled and shook her head.

“No Max, I was fat,” she corrected. “Those two,” she motioned to Raychel and I, “were chubby. I was fat. But, I’m not anymore, so nothing to worry about,” she grinned, sending me a wink. Whether the wink meant ‘hey, no hard feelings for trying to embarrass me’ or ‘I may not be fat anymore, but you are’ I’m not entirely sure. So I just smiled and nodded along with everyone else.

“So Raychel, what nickname were you talking about?” Jordan asked with a mischievous grin. He knew that it had to have been better than that one if Raychel was so quick to brush it off.

“Oh! Yeah!” she giggled, leaning on Tyler. “They used to call her Wham Bam Sam.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment, looking quite confused. I sighed and shook my head.

“Like ‘Wham, bam, thank you ma’am’ guys,” I explained, hoping that would help. It did a bit, a few of the guys started snickering. “Like sleeping with a lot of people,” I tried again.

“And they called her that because?” Sid trailed off, obviously not wanting to assume anything. Poor guy always tries so hard to be nice to everyone, even Sammy.

Raychel and I smirked before answering simultaneously. “Because she has a huuuge vagina.”

This time there was no moment of silence before everyone erupted into laughter and Sammy’s face became scarlet with embarrassment. We’d always joked about this when we were younger, and Sammy never really minded, she knew she was kind of a slut. Not a dirty slut or anything, but she had sex with a lot of guys and was no stranger to club hookups. Besides, Sammy gets on Raychel and I for stuff all the time. It’s all in good fun.

“Guys, don’t start this,” Sammy sighed, cuddling into Max like he was going to protect her. It made my stomach turn to be perfectly honest. Max used to protect me, not protect others from me.

“Don’t start what?” Raychel asked with a wicked grin. “We just thought that since Max was marrying you, he should know about your-“

This time Jordan and Tyler joined in with the huuuge vagina, making it even funnier. Hell, even Max was laughing. We weren’t being mean to her… well maybe Tyler and Jordan were, but Ray and I weren’t… but damn it was funny. Sammy tends to forget that she has faults too when she points out other people’s.

“I do not have a huge vagina,” she whined, pouting up at Max who was still laughing. “And you aren’t supposed to be laughing with them. They’re making fun of me!”

Max sighed and rolled his eyes. Even he could get fed up with Sammy’s whining occasionally. “They aren’t making fun of you. They’re just teasing you. Everyone knows you don’t really have a huge vagina.”

“Duh, of course we know that,” I scoffed, tipping my head back and finishing off my drink. I was starting to feel a buzz and I wanted nothing more than to get something stronger. I needed to be shitfaced to get through the rest of this night. “If you really had a huge vagina, Max wouldn’t fit. He isn’t that big,” I smirked, flicking my eyes to Max just to watch him squirm. He didn’t want Sammy to know that he and I had ever been together. No one really knew how she would take it, or whose side she would be on.

He narrowed his eyes at me, almost like it was in challenge. He could say so many things right now to defend himself. Things about how I’d never complained, or I used to beg for his dick instead of criticizing it, but he kept silent. Apparently Sammy was more important than his pride… at the moment.

“Oh shut up Taylor, you’re just jealous,” Sammy snapped playfully, though there was a hint of coldness in her voice too. Aw, how cute, she was sticking up for Max. Too bad she doesn’t even really know what she’s sticking up for.

“Of what?” I laughed, toying with my now empty glass as I waited for Sam’s attempt at bitchiness toward me. She really could be a bitch sometimes, but I usually came out on top.

“The fact that Max and I are in love and have someone to go home to, and all you’ll have is a bottle of alcohol,” she smiled sweetly, shaking her head. “You really should stop drinking so much Taylor, it’s no wonder you don’t have a boyfriend. Boys don’t like alcoholics sweetheart, and you’re fast on your way to becoming on. The last thing you need is another thing to chase guys off.”

I huffed out a laugh and smirked down at the table as everyone else around us fell quiet. Sammy probably didn’t mean it as mean as it sounded, but that didn’t mean the words stung even less. Yeah, I was turning to a bottle, because I really couldn’t turn to half of my friends. Two of my best friends were what was driving me to fucking drink. Another best friend had enough on her hands without dealing with my bullshit. Another encourages me to drink with him. And the rest… well, they don’t know. If they knew I was still in love with Max, all hell would break loose. People would either blame and hate Sammy, or think I was just trying to be a homewrecker. Neither one of which I want to happen.

So no, I’ll stick with drinking my problems away, and you can kiss my fucking ass Samantha Bryans.

“Well, at least the booze is more reliable then the men I’ve had to deal with,” I replied coldly, glaring at her as I shoved my seat back and headed toward the bar. “So much so, that I think I’ll have some more!” I yelled back at her with a challenging look.

Say something else to me Sam, I dare you. Say something and I’ll tell you just how much I know about your fiancé. I’ll tell you just how much he fucked me the whole time he was talking you into moving to Pittsburgh behind my back. I’ll tell you just how I feel about you and Max getting married, because I’m fucking over faking happy, I’m over this.

So fucking over it.

“Three shots of Jager, no chaser,” I called out to the bartender, slapping a ten onto the counter while he filled up the shooters. Tonight was turning into a disaster, just like I knew it would. I’d be lucky if I didn’t have a mental breakdown by the end of the night.

That, or very, very drunk. Which was my intention at the moment.

“Tu te donnes un spectacle, n’est-ce pas?”

I shook my head and threw back one of my shots as Kris took the seat next to me, watching me in amusement as he stole one of the shooters and threw it back himself.

“What do you want Letang?” I asked, taking the other one before he could reach for it and narrowing my eyes possessively.

He gave me one of his crooked grins and ordered three more shots for us, keeping two for himself and passing another one to me before speaking. “Some of us aren’ totally oblivious, you know.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, humoring him. He knew exactly what he wanted to say, but he wasn’t going to say it unless I lead him to it. Kris was like that, he made you wanted to hear what he wanted to say.

“If you still love him, why let Sammy have him?” he asked slowly, watching my face for any signs of emotion. Huh, I knew Tanger was observant, didn’t know he was that observant though.

“What do you mean?” I asked with a smirk, spinning a shooter around to avoid looking at him.

“Je n’suis ni bête ni aveugle, Taylor. Tu l’aime,” he said sadly, tucking a finger under my chin to make me look up at him. “Pourquoi?”

I looked away from him, trying to keep my eyes cold so he couldn’t see how much all of this was hurting me. Max was getting married, to my best friend. I was going to have to watch it, there was nothing I could do. Nothing I could say. No one had any idea how much that hurt.

“Hey, what are you two doing over here?” Sidney laughed as he and Lyndsey came to stand behind us. “Sammy and Max are about to announce the bridal party up there. Everyone’s been looking for you guys.”

“Lovely,” I mumbled to myself, rolling my eyes and looking over at the bartender. “Can I get two Amaretto Sours?” I asked him, placing another ten on the counter.

“Getting one for Sammy?” Sidney asked. Lyndsey just scoffed and shook her head. She had me figured out, though neither one of us had vocally admitted it yet. We didn’t really have to.

“No, getting my second one in advance,” I corrected, throwing back my last two shots, one after the other. I closed my eyes and shook my head, waiting for the burning in my throat to die down a bit. “I’m saving myself a trip.”

“You sure you need two?” Kris asked, looking a bit concerned as he watched the bartender make the first one.

“Not really,” I shrugged, smiling at Lyndsey as I finished. “I may need a third or fourth.”

Both Sidney and Kris’s eyes widened while Lyndsey and I just laughed. Unfortunately, there was much more truth to that statement than any of them realized.

“Alright, let’s get down to business then,” I grinned, taking the empty seat next to Max while Kris sat next to me. Everyone watched awkwardly as we sat down, and laughed when I swatted Max’s hand away from my extra drink.

“Don’t be stingy,” he scolded, reaching for it again. I growled and grabbed his wrist.

“Mine, not yours Talbot,” I warned, moving his hand away once again. He pouted and nudged my shoulder.

“Oh come on chére, I just want to try it,” he whined, finally sliding it away from me. I rolled my eyes when Kris gave me a pointed looking, and kicked Jordan in the shin when he gave me a kissy face. Dear God this shit would get old quick.

“Can I get everyone’s attention?” Sammy asked, standing up to try to quiet everyone down. As silence fell over our table. “I’ve thought long and hard about who my maid of honor would be,” she began, smiling at all the girls at the table. Not noticing that Flower’s girlfriend, Vero, made a gagging face at her.

“She make a scene out of everything,” Kris groaned from next to me. I snorted, unable to help myself. The man was right, Sam made a scene out of everything.

“Only one solution really made sense to us. This girl is the one that helped introduce me to Max and has been my friend about as long as I can remember,” she continued, and I felt my stomach drop. Oh fuck, why hadn’t I thought of this before? If God has any mercy, he will not allow Sammy to ask me to be her maid of honor. “You’re one of my best friends. So Raychel, would you please be my maid of honor?”

Fucking yes! Dodged that bullet. I can handle being in the wedding, but being her maid of honor would be something totally different.

“Of course I will, Silly Sammy!” Raychel giggled drunkenly.

“Taylor,” Max said quietly next to me as everyone else at the table erupted back into loud conversation.

“Hm?” I mumbled as I took a long drink.

“I wanted to ask you something,” he began nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as he avoided my eyes. “A favor really.”

“What is it Max?” I asked, setting my drink down and watching him carefully. Why on earth would he be so nervous?

“I want you to be my best man… erm… best woman,” he corrected, causing me to drop my drink.

And that would be why I’m a pagan ladies and gentlemen.

The only thing worse than being the maid of honor, would be being the best man. And everyone fucking knows I can’t tell Max no for anything.

“Of course I will Max,” I replied with the best smile I could muster. “I’d love too.”

“Good! Good,” he grinned, giving me a hug. “I was afraid you would think it was weird with our past and stuff, but you’re the one that introduced me to her, and you’re one of my best friends. You just made sense, you know?” he rambled, seeming quite pleased with himself.

What had I gotten myself into?

“Well,” I began loudly, feeling the shots start to hit me. Finally, drunkenness was hitting me. God knows I need it. “I need to get myself another drink.”

“You have a whole one right in front of you,” Max chuckled. I shrugged.

“I’m going to drink it on the way.”

“Alright then,” he trailed off, shaking his head and laughing at my antics. I’m glad you find them funny Talbot, you’re the one that caused them.

“Oh Kris! I meant to ask you if you’d take Taylor home for me,” Raychel said suddenly, making me stop in my tracks. Kris? Why the fuck would Kris take me home?

“Why can’t you?” he asked slowly, looking a bit skeptical himself.

“I’m going to Tyler’s.”

“Then why can’t Jordan?” he tried again, looking at our very blonde friend for help.

“Dentist’s appointment early in the morning dude. No can do. That leaves you,” Jordan grinned back, almost like he had something planned. “Just do it Tangers, she’s already too drunk to get herself home.”

“Alright, alright, fine. I’ll take ‘er ‘ome.”

“Thanks buddy,” Tyler grinned with the same mischievous look that Raychel and Jordan had.

Those idiots are up to something.

Notes

Tu te donnes un spectacle, n'est-ce pas? - You're making yourself a spectacle, aren't you?

Je n’suis ni bête ni aveugle, Taylor. Tu l’aime. - I'm not stupid, nor blind, Taylor. You love him.

Pourquoi? - Why?