Monsters In The Night • •

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

None of this was real. None of this could be happening. Words were swimming around Taylor’s head faster than the alcohol in her system could silence them and all she wanted was for everything to go away. Everything needed to stop, she needed the silence and she needed to be as far away from that carnage as was physically possible. If she didn’t know how her dad would react to her suddenly showing up in Fort Lee, she would already be making arrangements to head back there, but she knew the reception wouldn’t be a pretty one. Even with the mask she could wear to fool everyone else in her life, Captain Becks needed only a second to see through the act and bombard his daughter with questions. She also knew that a phone call later would have him on his way to New York personally to deal with the mess she had left behind and what twenty-six year old, independent woman wanted to be hiding behind her dad when it came to romantic troubles?!

When the cab came to a halt outside her apartment building, Taylor stuffed the notes through to the driver, probably giving him much extra than she owed, but she didn’t care. All she wanted was the safety of her apartment, the comfort of a familiar environment and the alcohol that she had stashed up there. She planned on drinking until she was numb. It might not have been the greatest idea she had ever had, but Taylor simply didn’t care right now. Ignoring the usual conversation she would normally have with the doorman on that evening, Taylor headed straight to the elevator as she pulled the bobby pins from her hair, letting the loose waves fall from the elegant up-do she had favoured for this evening. On her floor one hand reached for the key in her bag and the other was grasping for the zipper of the dress that suddenly felt much too tight.

Punching the lights on, the dress hit the floor just three steps from the door and she let the emotions overwhelm her as she moved to her room and grabbed a comfy shirt and jeans to replace it. The tears ran from her eyes and her heart threatened to beat out of her chest as she tripped over herself on the way to the kitchen, grabbing the first bottle her hand wrapped around; the tequila. Taylor tossed the lid somewhere on the breakfast island and brought the bottle to her lips, wincing as the strong drink hit the back of her throat. Her green eyes settled on some of the photographs she had resting in her living room and she crossed over, curling up in a ball next to the couch as her spare hand grabbed the first one of her and Drake at some theatre production that had been so awful she had wanted to tear her hair out by the second scene of act one. Angrily, she launched the thing across the room and into the wall, not caring when the glass smashed and the frame snapped. Snatching up the next one, the tears welled again when she saw younger self smiling up at a charismatic Damien on the day of his graduation from law school. She wanted to throw that one, too, but something stopped her and she just dropped it in the empty spot next to her before swigging from the tequila bottle again. She still wanted to smash something though, so snatched up a glass that she hadn’t moved to the sink yet and launched that at the wall instead; it did nothing to help her feel better.

She wanted to just forget this night and everything that came with it. Staying where she was, Taylor simply stared around her apartment, taking in everything she walked past on a daily basis. The photographs that hung from the wall, souvenirs from trips that hadn’t even been planned, the formal documents from college and med school that had graced the wall of every apartment she had ever lived in since receiving the qualifications. How was it that she could have a lifetime of little trinkets and noted skills and feel this lost? She had still been wrapping her head around what had happened with Damien when Drake had dropped his bombshell on her and now it was like some tornado ripping through her thoughts and destroying every semblance of logic and sanity that she had left. Taylor just couldn’t cope and when she couldn’t cope Jose was the only one with an answer.

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• • •

TAGGED! Bee <3
WORDS! 769!
OUTFIT! Breakdown Beauty!
LYRICS! Lying To The Mirror - - - Gabrielle Aplin
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Bridget Cameron Delaynee]

Bridget had been to hospital fundraisers before all throughout her life. She’d been her father’s date when she was old enough more times than she could count because her mother was working deadlines and couldn’t step away from the oven long enough to enjoy some time away from the flour and mixer. The entire family often joked that her mother was having an affair with the equipment; she was in the kitchen more than she was anywhere else in the house. Still, all that meant was that Bee knew what to expect when she agreed to go with Taylor; not that she had a choice in that part. She’d been going to this thing whether she liked it or not. She bought a pretty dress and a mask to match her accessories because she just couldn’t put it down. She was ready for this night, and everything that may or may not come with it.

There was drama in Taylor’s life and Bridget knew that half of the reason behind it was going to be there, since he was a doctor at the hospital alongside Taylor. What the blonde professor hadn’t expected was the other half of the reason to be there too. Damien was a professor like her, with no reason other than Taylor to be there as far as Bridget knew. And since she was Taylor’s date, he wasn’t there with her. But everything seemed fine throughout the night, Bridget wandered off a little bit to drink some flutes of champagne, get invited to dance a couple times and somehow manage to get sucked into the most boring conversation Bee had ever been in. If there were some sort of award for it, this masked man would have won; every time, hands down.

She wasn’t sure how she’d managed it, but she slipped away and practically ran to the bar where, of course, she’d run right into Dylan. She should have known he would have been there, he was a doctor after all, but he hadn’t mentioned it at all when they ran into each other, and Bridget had known for weeks that she was going to this thing. Not that it mattered that he didn’t tell her but she had been seriously glad that he was there to keep her awake after that boring as hell conversation. She had spent the better half of the rest of her night with him, casually keeping an eye out for Taylor to come back into the ballroom. She had plans to stick close to a bar and wait until Taylor was ready to leave. Bridget wasn’t about to leave her best friend alone at this ball with both Damien and Drake wandering around.

Her night was alright until she spotted Taylor coming back in from the balcony looking flustered, Bridget left Dylan where he stood and went right over, trying to cut her off to see what was wrong before she did anything else and possibly regretted it. She didn’t get there fast enough though and Drake moved to bended knee. Bridget’s jaw dropped in complete and utter shock. From everything she knew about the ‘couple’, Drake knew practically nothing about Taylor. At least, that was how Bridget saw it anyway. Her head snapped to her friend, eyes wide before those blue eyes moved to Damien who seemed just as shocked by these new events. It wasn’t a secret that Bridget wasn’t Drake’s biggest fan. There was something about him that just struck her nerve. She had tried to get to know him, for Taylor, but it really just wasn’t in her. Bee was still stunned when Taylor fled from the ballroom and the watching eyes and the blonde certainly didn’t blame her. That was a traumatic mess.

Bridget being who she was, was about to storm right over and get in the middle of the two men when they came to blows but Dylan grabbed her wrist and held her back. She didn’t want to understand what he was doing, but she did and could only thank him for keeping her back. Because she would have jumped in and she would have finished that fight and screamed at them both until they understood how stupid they were. Instead, she leaned up, pressed a hasty kiss to Dylan’s cheek and thanked him before turning away and walking right out of the building, hailing a taxi from the bottom step. One pulled up as she hit the edge of the sidewalk and she had never been happier being a pretty girl wearing a pretty dress; everyone wanted to play white knight to a damsel.

She rattled of Taylor’s address, trying a guess that she’d go home. If she wasn’t there, she’d catch another ride and check somewhere else. She didn’t think she’d find her sitting around the hall of her apartment building but she would cross that bridge when she got to it. She passed a couple notes to the driver when he pulled to the curb outside Taylor’s place and got out, automatically digging through her clutch for the keychain she kept on her. She had a spare key still from some time ago and used it now to let herself into Taylor’s place. “What the fuck just happened?” Bridget called, barely shutting the door behind her. She picked up the pretty dress her friend had been wearing and moved further into the home, tossing the dress onto the couch as she moved to sit next to Taylor. She never swore, hated the foul language since she felt it ruined languages in general. Oh, she spoke plenty in French, and would happily admit to that since her mother laughingly taught her everything she knew, but to swear in English was just not done by the blonde professor. And when it did happen, it meant she was serious.

Tag || Tay! <3
Words || 977
Clothes || Frustrated Friend
Music || Good Friend And Glass Of Wine - - - Leann Rimes
Notes || <3

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

Taylor hadn’t spared a thought for the aftermath she might’ve been leaving in the ballroom with her hasty exit. She had reached her breaking point and she just couldn’t take any more, no matter what her feelings were or who they were for. Everything had been building up, and up for weeks now and she just couldn’t take any more of it. She had had bombshells from both of the men in her life and only one of them was a welcome revelation, but right now it didn’t exactly feel it; anything that could’ve been was ruined by the moments that followed and the diamond ring against the black velvet. Now, her head just spun from a combination of strong alcohol and conflicting emotions.

Forgetting seemed like the best option for now, and the quickest way of doing that was to empty this bottle and then probably spend the next twelve hours propped up in the bathroom suffering the consequences. Her green eyes travelled to the landline phone sitting on the small end table next to her and she leaned over to it, pressing the buttons to give people the dial tone if they called. She wasn’t picking that up and she wasn’t answering her cell either; at least not until she could think clearly and know what she was doing. She didn’t want to talk or listen to Damien or Drake right now and she couldn’t even estimate when she would want to speak to them again. Her encounters with both men this evening kept swimming around in her head, one of them pulling harder on her heartstrings and calling her out on leaving in the manner she did whilst the other had that little voice of a conscience screaming at her for leaving everything in such a mess and for avoiding the inevitable for such a long time. She didn’t know which one she wanted to shut up the most.

She ought to have expected Bridget to come after her considering Taylor had dragged her to the ball in the first place, but the brunette mortician just wasn’t thinking clearly enough right now and there was far too much going on in her head to think about the repercussions of everything and the answers she probably owed to everyone. Taylor raised the bottle back to her lips for another long, burning, mouthful before casting her eyes down to the rug beneath the coffee table. She had heard Bridget’s arrival, but she just didn’t want to look up, allowing her darker hair to hide her face from her friend. “I love him. But, I hate him.”

[/color] She said quietly, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood before “He has the worst timing in the whole damn world, and as for the other one…”[/color] She waved her hand, unable to think of anything to say about him. Another mouthful of tequila and Taylor stretched her long legs out, tossing her head back to rest it on the couch behind her. “Just kill me now? Or let me move to Europe.”[/color]
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• • •

TAGGED! Bee <3
WORDS! 552!
OUTFIT! Breakdown Beauty!
LYRICS! Lying To The Mirror - - - Gabrielle Aplin
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Bridget Cameron Delaynee]

If anyone had told Bridget that morning when she’d gotten ready to go into the office that her evening would end in her friend getting proposed to and that same friend running out of a crowded room because of it, she would have laughed at the creativity of whoever told her that story. Now though, she would believe anything at all; however ridiculous it sounded at the time. Of course, she’d also given Drake a little more credit than to pull an idiotic move like proposing in the middle of a benefit. The first and last time she ever did that. She didn’t know what happened out on the terrace but whatever it was, she was going to find out when she reached Taylor and pulled the information out of her. When Bee saw Taylor run, she wasn’t far behind her despite wanting to be still at the fundraiser thing yelling at both of the men fighting over Taylor like she was a favoured toy.

In the taxi, she was working out plans to confront at least one of the men. She worked with Damien and though he hadn’t been the foolish one, he was still involved, and Bridget was determined to figure out what the hell was happening, his side of things and deal with it all when she had most of the pieces. Drake was another story. There was just something about that man, there always had been, that rubbed the Nevada native the wrong way. And growing up where she did, working where she had, she knew when something wasn’t sitting right. And since Bridget wasn’t the type to hide her opinions on just about anything, she’d said how she felt about the other doctor plenty. Thinking about it, she was probably a little bit biased, after all she worked with Damien, had offices in the same general area and ran into each other quite a bit in the halls. The lawyer turned professor was a charming, intelligent man that didn’t treat her any differently because she was a shorter than average blonde woman who happened to have a penchant for baking when any emotion proved to be too overwhelming for her to deal with.

Sitting on the floor next to Taylor was uncomfortable in her dress; Bee wished she could see into the future so she would have chosen a roomier dress, one comfortable enough to sit on the floor in. “I hate to break it to you but most men do, Hon. Especially lawyers,” she said with a small smile knowing exactly which of the two men she was talking about with the first of her sentences. Bridget had known for a long time now that Taylor was fighting her feelings at each and every turn. But she also knew it was utterly pointless to point that out. Her closest friend was quite the stubborn woman and there was no point in getting into a fight about something she wasn’t ready to hear. She chose now, to ignore the remark on Drake since the mortician was well aware the professor’s thoughts. “Can’t kill you, against the friendship code but tell me where I can find another bottle and I’ll book the flights myself,” she said, brushing her fingers over her hair, searching for the pins she’d used to put it into the braided, slightly messy up do she’d done. “But remember, I’m from Vegas, I know people...” she said ominously. She knew people alright, but none of them could do what her words suggested they could. She was trying to get something more than sorrow and embarrassment from her friend, but she didn’t know how far along in the party for one she was to get the right response.

Tag || Tay! <3
Words || 624
Clothes || Frustrated Friend
Music || Good Friend And Glass Of Wine - - - Leann Rimes
Notes || <3

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

Even in her wildest dreams, in some of the crazy scenarios she had envisioned during the spare hours she had had to herself in the build up to the ball, Taylor had never pictured a diamond ring. Hell, she hadn’t pictured one at all in her future and especially not from Drake. He was a good guy, despite all of the screw ups they had experienced over the last few months and her friend’s opinions of him. It was just becoming much more obvious now that Taylor should’ve kept the friendship with the man rather than trying to convince herself that security and stability was all she needed in her future. Now she had learnt her lesson and now she knew that people were going to get hurt because of it. However, when she had started seeing Drake she had no idea that Damien would be moving to the city or that her feelings for the law professor would come back with just as much gusto as they had always had.

There were a million things she knew she ought to have done by now, but dwelling on those only made her feel worse. She gripped the tequila bottle tighter and raked her fingers through her hair, wincing as her nails caught the fine knots. She managed a harsh chuckle at Bridget’s words and looked back down at the photograph by her side. Her fingers ran over the glass and she shook her head. “He was late to his own graduation.”

[/color] She remembered him showing up and mumbling the excuse about his dodgy alarm clock. Shaking her head, she brought the bottle back to her lips and took another long swig of the burning alcohol. “I was so close, Bee. We kissed and then I was right there about to tell him everything…”[/color] She glanced across as her friend’s dress caught her eye in the dimly lit apartment and then Taylor found the chance to change the topic. “Go and change. If I’m acting trashy then you can at least look like you’re joining me.”[/color] She extended her arm and waved in the general direction of her bedroom, leaving it to Bridget to go and find some comfier clothes to steal. Taylor hadn’t meant to weigh her friend down with all of her problems, but at least now it really couldn’t get any worse. This had to be the end of it and Taylor knew that, but she would start dealing with that once the bottle of tequila was empty and her head was back on straight.

“I don’t think anywhere on the map is far enough way.”[/color] She dropped her head to her knees and groaned. No matter how far she ran she knew she had to fix all of this mess. Damien had been her best friend for far too long to simply cut him out like that, not even when she wanted to run so badly right now. The sight of that diamond ring had shaken her, and not in a good way. She hadn’t been the kind of girl to dream about white weddings, the 2.4 children and the perfect domesticated lifestyle. Hell, she still wasn’t, but now she was realising exactly why she wasn’t like that; it put this great fear into her that she couldn’t even begin to describe. “I know my dad.”[/color] She groaned, closing her eyes and taking another drink. Captain Becks had instilled fear into the little boys running down the streets of Fort Lee when she was still living at home and she could only imagine what he would have done tonight if he had seen what had gone down. Firstly, Drake would have been killed, Damien probably would’ve been close behind and Taylor would have been lucky if she didn’t wake up in her teenage bedroom with bars on her window and a lock on her door. No one got to mess with his only daughter or ruin something that was supposed to be special and honoured. None of them had done that this evening, at all and Taylor knew it. She didn’t need a crystal ball to know she’d be avoiding her dad’s calls for the next few days until she could hide the hate and regret in her voice; he was one of the few people on the planet who could see straight through a fake “hello”.
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• • •

TAGGED! Bee <3
WORDS! 773!
OUTFIT! Breakdown Beauty!
LYRICS! Lying To The Mirror - - - Gabrielle Aplin
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Bridget Cameron Delaynee]

Bridget wasn’t as used to drinking her problems away as some would think. She drank when she wanted a drink but when she was feeling too much of a particular emotion, she baked. It was the whole reason her own refrigerator and freezer as well as most of her friends were full of pastries and baked treats that she’d made. Whenever she was feeling angry, annoyed, pissed off, she baked. Whenever she was happy, over excited and unable to bounce around her apartment, she blasted the music and baked while she danced. The other night, she couldn’t bake; it was just too much anger, too much annoyance to just bake it all into cakes, pies and cookies. So she drank, and drank; much like her friend was doing now. And Bridget understood now, how she was feeling.

Bridget shook her head, chuckling. “So, he’s going to be the one late to his own wedding or funeral, hmm?” She didn’t know him well nor for that long but knowing that little bit of information about her colleague had her able to imagine her words were true. Though it wasn’t difficult to breathe sitting in her dress, it was bothersome and more of a mild annoyance than anything else. But she could forget about it for the time being. Taylor needed a shoulder and an ear; she needed a friend and Bridget was going to be there for her. Sighing, Bridget got up off the floor before turning to Taylor. “When I get back from raiding your wardrobe, we’re going back to that thought and expanding,” she said, though she didn’t worry if Taylor was sober enough to catch on, she just walked off. She grabbed a pair of cropped yoga pants and the first shirt she could find, changed and rushed back to the living room. “Okay, so,” Bridget said, making herself comfortable on the floor again. “You kissed him,” Bridget prompted, waiting for a little more explanation.

There were plenty of times in the last week or so where Bridget found herself looking up travel sites, picking out places on the map where she could run off to for some time away. But she wasn’t the type to run or hide; and neither was Taylor, despite their current conversation. “Tahiti is nice this time of year,” she said casually. “But New York is even better in the summer.” Despite the topic, neither would be running away from their troubles. And though right now it seemed bleak, Bridget knew Taylor would face down those problems head on. “Captain Becks would know some scary people,” Bridget agreed, nodding her head. She’d only met the man a couple of times, but it was enough to know that he could be terrifying if he chose to be.

Tag || Tay! <3
Words || 463
Clothes || Frustrated Friend
Music || Good Friend And Glass Of Wine - - - Leann Rimes
Notes || <3

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

Taylor wasn’t usually one for reaching for a bottle, but tonight had more than enough reasons to make an exception. Usually, when life got too much for her, she could call Damien…obviously that plan was not going to happen. She also had Bridget, but her blonde friend was already around and it didn’t seem like it was enough. There was the option of strapping on her skates and hitting the park, but she didn’t have a second set and with the energy she had to get rid of to forget her problems, Taylor suspected that she would probably end up in the ER with a broken wrist. She good on the wheels, but they only proved ideal when her mind was clear enough to start with and right now it was being hit by a hurricane of thoughts, doubts, worries and decisions that she just didn’t want to be thinking about. Tequila was seriously the only answer.

Taylor hit Bridget with a blank stare and arched her eyebrow as her fingers wrapped tighter around the bottle neck. “Really? Wedding? We’re going to bring up that word after what just happened?”

[/color] She knew that Bridget hadn’t meant anything by bringing it up, but her mind was still spinning at the thought of the diamond ring Drake had expected to slip onto her finger. The mortician felt sick, and not from the alcohol she was knocking back. While Bridget was gone she rested her head on her knees and tried to silence the thoughts whooshing around her head, switching from one man to the other and then back again like some sickening see-saw ride that she couldn’t get off. At her friend’s voice, Taylor pushed her fingers through tangled locks and then stretched her long legs out once again until her feet were hidden under the bottom of her coffee table. “We were…I was criticising Drake and how he was being playing Mr Perfect when he so wasn’t him. Damien called him a fool, we kissed, he professed his love and then I ran back inside because Drake chose that moment to drop to his knee and ask for my hand.”[/color] She brought the bottle to her lips before anything else could come out and hoped the tequila would numb the ache and she sickening feeling she felt from just being so overwhelmed.

“New York is better when the drama is in someone else’s life.”[/color] She whined, sounding more like a pissed off teenager than the twenty-six year old doctor she actually was. It wasn’t like Taylor to feel like this, but then she had kept her love life relatively simple in the past to avoid this sort of thing. People wondered why she didn’t give guys a chance beyond a handful of dates and now the tall brunette was armed with a story to provide them with an explanation; one idiot confesses his love and another pulls out the diamond ring! How any girl could want this situation for themselves was beyond Taylor and all she wanted was the simplicity back again. “Captain Becks is the scary people.”[/color] He had chased off enough hormonal teenage boys before they had even gotten close enough to Taylor to touch her. She dropped her head to the blonde woman’s shoulder and slouched down some more. “I thought I had it, Bee, and then he proposed. If he hadn’t done that then…”[/color] Taylor didn’t quite know what would have happened with Drake, but she certainly knew what would have happened out on the balcony. Shaking her head, she fell silent and just let her green eyes float back over to the photo she was sitting next to. “I thought giving the whole romance thing a chance might’ve been worth it but then it all just blew up in my face. Where’s the nearest convent?”[/color] It suddenly seemed like the next best idea and she looked at Bridget with a sad, but serious expression.
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• • •

TAGGED! Bee <3
WORDS! 664!
OUTFIT! Breakdown Beauty!
LYRICS! Lying To The Mirror - - - Gabrielle Aplin
NOTES! <3 <3 <3