Should I Stop Pretending? • •

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

Taylor wasted no time in pouring herself a glass of wine the second she got home from her shift at the hospital. She needed all the alcoholic help she could get to get through the night at the ball with both Drake and Damien there. After taking a quick shower, Taylor clipped her hair up out of the way and slipped into her pyjamas. There was no way she was putting the elegant dress on until the last possible moment, just in case by some miracle, she found a way of getting out of the masquerade ball. Bridget would be over soon and the pair of them could have a good chat over a few more glasses of wine before they had to leave.

Sipping at her drink, Taylor crossed to the corner of her apartment that belonged to her pets. She checked their specific needs one at a time, smiling when everything was as it should be for the creatures she called her babies. When people came over they were one of the first things commented on and Taylor found herself trying to find an explanation for the more unusual pets that she kept. Damien had known her Tay her whole life and even he didn’t understand her love for the exotic creatures. She paid attention to them one by one, forgetting all of her worries whilst Jerry crawled over the back of her hand, making his way up her thin arm. As he reached her shoulders, Taylor slipped him back into his tank, securing it before moving to the largest vivarium she kept, which was for Kane. There was something soothing about her pets and they kept her from worrying or over-thinking about everything else that was going on in her life.

She had genuinely been happy with Drake and there were still moments when he managed to make her smile and believe that everything was going to be great. If Damien hadn’t moved to the city than she probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it and she’d never be in this situation to begin with. The more time she spent with Damien though, the more she began to have doubts about what she had with Drake. Taylor had spent far too much time putting the cons against the pros for both of them and it had totally left her entirely unsure of where she was standing with her own feelings. Was Damien anything more than a rush from her “bad girl” days? Drake was willing to offer her security and a future; she knew what the doctor felt. Damien was a whole new book of rules and Taylor didn’t even know where to begin.
She let out a sigh, reaching for her wine glass again while Kane wrapped himself around her wrist, making himself quite at home slithering up Taylor’s arm. The sound of someone knocking at her door snapped her out of her thoughts. Taylor glanced at the clock, knowing that it was probably Bridget on the other side of the wood. Without putting Kane back in his vivarium, she crossed her apartment and tugged the door open, smiling at her guest as though her mind wasn’t full of doubts, questions and worries.

[/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Bee <3
WORDS! 575
OUTFIT! Masquerade Mayhem
LYRICS! Perfect Day - - - Doctor Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Bridget Cameron Delaynee]

Bridget was actually looking forward to this night out. She’d been to a few galas and fundraisers for the hospital her father worked for. She’d taken her mother’s place quite a few times over the years when she was swamped with orders for her bakery or the catering business she had to be able to attend. Bee didn’t mind going with her father, it gave her a chance to spend more time with the man, meet more of his friends and colleagues and introduce herself to some new residency applicants. This would be the first for her outside of Nevada though, so she was a little nervous. And on top of everything going on with Taylor, she absolutely had to be there for her closest friend.

She’d worked the entire day counting the minutes until she could go home, grab her things and rush over to Taylor’s to get ready. She was going to be home for an hour at most, because she was going to rush a shower at her own place before pulling on sweats and piling everything she would need into her car and racing across the city to her friend’s place. Bridget emailed all her student’s from her last class, apologizing for cancelling it without much notice, but figuring that none of them would really mind since it meant there was no added homework to get finished through the weekend. With that done and send, Bridget gathered her things, locked her office and practically ran to her car in the staff lot. She wanted to open that bottle of tequila rose she’d bought the other day specifically for getting ready for this fundraiser thing. If anyone was going to need to pre-game this event, it was going to be Taylor! And naturally, Bridget would be right there with the brunette doctor!

She made it home in one piece and in record time, parking and dragging her things up to her apartment. She left her bags on the table, already peeling her things off as she ran to the shower and went through that routine. Within twenty minutes, she was showered with her hair up in a messy bun so it would stay mostly wet when she got to Taylor’s, her make-up and any other supplies she would need were packed into an overnight bag just so she wouldn’t have to carry a bunch of tiny bags. She double checked it for her shoes, clutch and jewelry before tossing the bag on her shoulder, taking the garment bag from the back of her closet door and rushing back out of her apartment, snatching up her purse, phone and keys as she went, only stopping long enough to make sure the dogs had fresh food and water.

Her last class was late, so she thought she was running behind. She didn’t want to be late and have Taylor freaking out. But she made it over to her place before realizing she was probably on time if not early. She gathered her things, locked the car door and booted it to Taylor’s door, knocking. It didn’t take long before the door was pulled open, allowing Bridget to walk in. “Hello, darling,” she said grinning at Tay. “And hello, Kane,” she added before looking up at the snake’s owner. “Any other’s crawling on you before I hug you hello?” she asked, looking for herself. Bridget could do with most animals, and Taylor’s exotic pets didn’t bother her in the least, but the blonde professor was seriously freaked about the one pet she did have. She could hold Kane, let him slither up her arms, whatever, but she could not deal with spiders.

Tag || Tay!
Words || 612
Clothes || Masquerade Madness
Music || All I Want Is Everything --Victoria Justice
Notes || <3

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

With her father’s position in the US Navy, Taylor had donned the nice dress and the formal etiquette before for a number of events. She had done it more so since her mother’s death seven years ago. Her dad had too many memories of taking Taylor’s mom to the dinners and the balls and now he turned to his daughter when they happened so that he could make new memories with the tall brunette, rather than wallow in sad ones. Though they did both speak fondly of their memories of the woman they missed so much when they did frequent those events. There seemed to be less now that he had retired, but she knew he still did bits here and there for them and he was still highly respected there after he had served his whole adult life, even sacrificing a few of Taylor’s birthdays for the cause, though the mortician held nothing against him for that.

Tonight her dad wouldn’t be there though to hold her hand and Taylor could already imagine the look his blue eyes would give her if he knew exactly what was happening with his only daughter’s love life. She had kept the conversations and her answers vague, but he had told her that he knew something was up and that she wasn’t completely happy. She had, somehow, managed to reassure him, but lying to her dad was not something she wished to make a habit of. Tonight, Bridget would have to be the one holding her hand and keeping her from climbing the bar to drink from the bottles of the spirits directly. Although, given how the two women could pre-drink, Taylor wouldn’t be all that surprised if they arrived at the ball a little closer to drunk than they intended to be!

For now, the brunette was still relatively calm about everything, but she was only thinking about Bridget coming over and them having a bit of girl time before the ball kicked off and demanded they at least look presentable. In reality, Taylor would be quite content to spend the night in her apartment with her friend, just lazing about in her leggings and old college sweatshirt while they drank and laughed the night away. That was an impossible idea, at least for tonight. Too many people were expecting Taylor to be there and her phone would be ringing off the hook if she wasn’t in the room by the time every other doctor from the hospital was.

Taylor grinned at her friend and then rolled her eyes playfully. She was used to people not having the same reaction she did to her exotic babies. Even Damien, who had known her longer than anyone, gave her a weird look when he caught her cooing over them or allowing them to climb or slither all over her. “Jerry is back in his terrarium.”

[/color] She said, knowing exactly what pet Bridget was talking about. “And, he’s secure, so you don’t need to worry about him escaping just to come and say hello to you.”[/color] She teased, closing the door again and moving to place Kane back in his vivarium, unwrapping the snake from around her wrist and then locking him in too. She picked her wine glass up again and sipped at it before turning to face Bridget with a smile and a hug.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Bee <3
WORDS! 601
OUTFIT! Masquerade Mayhem
LYRICS! Perfect Day - - - Doctor Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Bridget Cameron Delaynee]

Bridget was nervous but she was excited about it all. She hadn’t been to a fancy gala in three years, two of which because she was in New York already and the year before because she’d done the baking for her mother so she could have a good time with the few friends she did have attending. Bridget had enjoyed going with her father to the events simply because there were people dragged along that were her age at the time not to mention the young doctors starting out, still doing their residency at the hospital and what not. It really seemed like if you weren’t on shift at Las Vegas General, you had to attend the fundraisers and events; whether you wanted to or not. And her father’s presence was mandatory since he was the Chief of Staff.

Bridget was only thankful that his entire family didn’t need to be there since she actually found the parties held by the hospital dull. All the people attending only wanted to talk about money and what said money would buy for the hospital. Bridget spent half the time flirting with the new residency doctors and the other half being overly sarcastic and sipping at the champagne they supplied. Tonight was going to be different because she wasn’t going to have to be the sweetest version of herself to please her father’s friends. He knew better, but because she wanted to make him proud, she played the role of sweet, innocent daughter nicely. This was the reason Bee picked up the bottle of Tequila Rose for the night. It was a tasty drink and a good starter in her opinion. A few shots of that and neither one of them would worry about what was going to happen at the hospital’s fundraiser.

Grinning, Bee dropped her things on the couch before turning back to Tay and giving the tall brunette a quick hug. “Just where I like him!” She said, teasing. Bridget wasn’t secretive about her dislike of eight-legged creatures. After the first visit to Taylor’s house had Bridget standing on the kitchen counter, freaking out, they’d had a good laugh, but Jerry stayed in his glass home whenever she was back. “You should put that done and dig out the shot glasses,” she said, turning back to her things to pull the bottle she’d brought along with her. “We’ll get back to it in a minute, after a shot… or two,” Bridget said grinning wickedly. Her father wasn’t going to be at the gala, she didn’t have to be polite because she was Dr. Delaynee’s daughter; though she would tone it down since she was Taylor’s date.

Tag || Tay!
Words || 446
Clothes || Masquerade Madness
Music || All I Want Is Everything --Victoria Justice
Notes || <3

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

Taylor still didn’t understand why she had to go tonight. She wasn’t Drake’s plus one or even going with him. For some reason though, she had been given an invitation and strict orders to put in an appearance at the gala for reasons she didn’t quite understand. Sure, she believed her job to be important, but it wasn’t like she raced through the hospital saving lives every single day; her stints in the ER were only one night a week unless they were short staffed and Taylor found herself dealing more with the walking wounded than anyone with life threatening injuries or conditions. Hell, even the people she worked with joked about her position as “The Reaper” ever since her residency was over and she took up the permanent position down in the basement morgue. Part of her was looking for a change, something more of a challenge, but she did enjoy finding that closure too much to simply switch it up with a different department.

Her boss and her peers might be there tonight, but Taylor was barely giving them any thought whatsoever. She had her reputation at the hospital and it meant a hell of a lot more than one night mingling and trying to coerce the wealth of New York into parting with some of that inherited money. It was for a good cause, but Taylor wasn’t really feeling in the charitable mood, which she already felt awful about. All she wanted to do was drink and be sarcastic. She didn’t have time for the pleasantries and the false smiles that always came with this sort of thing. All the brunette doctor wanted to do was to stop worrying about everything that could go wrong tonight and the fastest way to do that was by emptying one of the bottles of wine that she had picked up a few days earlier when she had done the grocery shop.

“And Jerry loves you, too.”

[/color] Taylor rolled her eyes and hugged her friend back. She had never had a problem with spiders of any size and all it took was one look into the corner of her apartment to see that Taylor’s fears did not list any exotic creatures. Really, there wasn’t an animal Taylor could say she was petrified of, unless it was a wasp; she hated those things and they ruined the summer months for her. She had been stung when she was a little girl and she had never quite mentally recovered from it. Glancing down at the glass in her hand, Taylor smirked. “I have a better idea for it.”[/color] She said, knocking back the rest of the glass in a few gulps and smacking her lips as she lowered the now empty glass. Despite her profession and her usual mannerisms, Taylor was quite the party girl and drinking quite a bit had been a big part of her college days. They may have been far behind her now, but Taylor could quite easily throw back a line or shots or skull a drink with ease. Travelling around the open plan loft, Taylor pulled the shot glasses from the cupboard and crossed back to Bridget. “Make it three.”[/color] She said with a grin as she put the glasses down on the wooden coffee table by the couch.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Bee <3
WORDS! 593
OUTFIT! Masquerade Mayhem
LYRICS! Perfect Day - - - Doctor Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Bridget Cameron Delaynee]

Bridget had never seen anything wrong with Taylor’s job from the moment she’d found out. It was intriguing and if Bee had a better stomach and had the patients to go through all those years of medical school, she might have tried to pursue a career down that path. But she couldn’t stand to be in a hospital any more for longer than five minutes. And she’d heard horror stories from her father, who omitted names from his tales of the ER. And seeing what she’d seen waiting around the hospital for her father, she just wasn’t a fan anymore and usually went to her father when she was feeling ill. Even now, she called him up and gave him all her symptoms. If he thought it was serious enough to warrant a trip to a medical clinic, she would go, if not, she’d just get what he told her to pick up from the pharmacy and be done with the matter.

“He can love me from afar,” Bee said, laughing. She could crack jokes about it all but the second the pet was outside the glass walls of his home, she was up on the counter, having a mini heart attack. “Well that was mean, now I’m a drink behind!” She said, watching her friend finish of the wine in her glass. Bee didn’t know what tonight was going to be like since it was all Taylor’s colleagues and people who supported this hospital by way of cash donations. Obviously Tay couldn’t let her hair down as it were and be her usual party girl self since she had to appear to be the proper professional that she was during work hours. It was definitely going to be an interesting night.

As Taylor got the shot glasses down, Bee opened the black bottle and tried to peer down into it to no avail. She had no clue what she did it, just an impulse she had and grinned when the glasses were set on the table. “Three, four, enough to hit the floor?” Bee asked, laughing at her own terrible little rhyme. She had a feeling though if Taylor was going to make it through this night in one piece with both Damien and Drake being there, she would need that much alcohol. Happily, Bridget poured the shots before setting the bottle down and picking up both, handing one over to her brunette friend. “To an eventful night,” the blonde said, lifting her small glass in the air to clink against Taylor’s before throwing the shot back and already picking the bottle up for round two.

Tag || Tay!
Words || 437
Clothes || Masquerade Madness
Music || All I Want Is Everything --Victoria Justice
Notes || <3

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

The thing Taylor disliked the most was when people seemed to think that she wasn’t a real doctor. Without her being in the basement of that hospital day in and day out, families would never get the closure they needed and the insurance companies would never pay out the money specifically set up for this sort of loss. Throw her in the ER or on any other ward and she could still treat patients like every other qualified doctor in a white coat, she just preferred to be the one to deal with the dead. It might sound morbid and it might shock some people, but Taylor felt that it was her calling, rather than anywhere else in the hospital and the tall brunette had considered all of her options when she was still working hard to earn her place here and the morgue had been the place that called to her most of all. Taylor believed in fate and instinct and she wasn’t about to stop just because some people believed she ought to be doing something else.

“He needs feeding, if you like?”

[/color] Taylor teased, creeping her fingers over Bridget’s shoulder and laughing. She understood that not everyone was a fan of her babies, but Taylor still liked to make jokes about it from time to time. In reality, Jerry was actually pretty good for food, just like the rest were in the heated corner of her apartment. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up on when Bee was around and the conversation mentioned the darling creatures Taylor sometimes preferred over humans. “Then maybe you need to catch up.”[/color] Taylor needed the alcohol tonight and it wasn’t very often that she felt that way. Tonight though, she’d take anything to numb the confusion and silence the ever disagreeing head and heart that had driven Taylor mad more times than she cared to count over the recent months.

She knew she still had to maintain some control tonight and represent the hospital that were happy to employ her, but Taylor did have a pretty decent hold on her drinking and she could handle much more than people seemed to think. She could also hide drunk pretty well when talking to people so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get through this evening without making a show of herself or the hospital. “The floor and beyond.”[/color] Taylor exaggerated, though she definitely needed something to get rid of all the tension she was feeling right now just from thinking about tonight and what it might hold. Taylor downed the shot easily enough and breathed out as the strong liquid slid down her throat. “I’d prefer if the events could revolve around anyone but me, for the record.”[/color] She just wanted to get through tonight more than anything else, but the glass was back to her lips a few seconds later once Bridget had done the quick refill.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Bee <3
WORDS! 531
OUTFIT! Masquerade Mayhem
LYRICS! Perfect Day - - - Doctor Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Bridget Cameron Delaynee]

Bridget’s fear of the eight legged critters was little odd to say the least, especially after people found out where she was originally from. But her hometown also gave plenty of reasons to have developed this fear. She didn’t have a problem with them when she was a small child; in fact, she used to play with all the little critters in her backyard. But she did grow up in the Nevada Desert. There had been camping trips and class trips and all sorts of things that brought her to the desert for some fun. The snakes had never bothered her, she liked them, had even asked for one as a pet when she had been ten to no avail. Vivie wasn’t a fan of them. Bridget could still go out in the desert, sleep out there and everything, the difference now was that she had to check every single thing when she woke up to make sure no little critters got too friendly and decided to pay her a visit. She had been 12, at a sleepover when she was completely turned from the eight legged variety of critters. Her friend’s brother had a pet tarantula whom he appropriately named Houdini. The small escape artist was found the next day sitting pretty on Bridget’s chest, just under the covers. Bridget screamed, waking up the other girls at the party and flung the little thing across the room and she ran straight to the dresser far away and climbed right now, dislodging everything her friend had set up there.

She remembered her friend’s mom calling her dad and him having to actually carrying her from the house, despite knowing the creature had been picked up and put back in its glass cage. Bridget almost never told that story, she didn’t like reliving it. All Bridget could do was look at Taylor with a very bland look. The brunette doctor always found in amusing to tease the blonde professor and for the most part, Bee just gave her a dull look and a sarcastic quip in response. “I’ll get there, after these shots,” she said, laughing. The night ahead of them was going to be filled with drama. Bridget could already see it coming and had when she was invited and found out both Drake and Damien would be in attendance. Drake was a bit of a hothead, the blonde professor saw as much the few short times they’d been around each other.

“I think we’ll start with three or four and hit the floor well after this shindig is done and over with so you don’t make an ass of yourself. Leave that to the children,” Bridget said, referencing the men in Taylor’s life. She poured the second round of shots and downed hers. “The events of the evening are revolving around the hospital, remember?” she asked, teasing. There was no way this entire night was going to go smooth sailing. Something was bound to happen and that was more the reason why Bridget was going to be there. So she could be on Taylor’s side when the shit hit the fan in the public eye. If there was a way for Bridget to fix it all so that they could all have a screaming match in private, she would do it, but unless they all showed up at her friend’s house right now and got it all out of their systems, it was going to happen later, and probably after the alcohol has been circling. “Have another shot, it’ll numb it all,” she said, filling the shot glasses for round three.

Tag || Tay!
Words || 602
Clothes || Masquerade Madness
Music || All I Want Is Everything --Victoria Justice
Notes || <3