The Ruins of Us - - -

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

Ever since Damien came to live in New York, Taylor had actually been able to remember what a social life felt like again. Most of the nights when she would curl up on her sofa with a mystery novel in her hand were now spent out with Damien, hanging at his place or him at hers when they were both too tired from work to hang out at the comedy club or one of the other bars that New York had to offer. It really was like old times again and she loved the fact that he was always there for her whenever she needed him.
However, it did mean that she had been neglecting Drake somewhat recently. He would pop down to the morgue to make plans only to be told that Taylor had left early or to hear from the brunette herself that she was already going out with friends. It wasn’t fair on the trauma doctor, but it had been a long time since Taylor had been in a real relationship and it simply didn’t occur to her that she was blowing him off a little too much for him to understand. She was just so caught up in having her best friend around again and even on the nights when they didn’t meet up, they would text each other, simply reminiscing or sharing jokes that only the other would really understand.

Today, Taylor had used one of her vacation days to go to the game with Damien after he managed to wrangle them two very expensive tickets for the baseball game. They used to do this when they were younger, but their fathers usually accompanied them, buying the hotdogs and the sodas for them. It was still ‘their’ thing though and Taylor had left early that morning for a full blown day of baseball, complete with rowdy fans, cheap beer and competing with her best friend for the best heckle.

It was late when she parted ways with Damien, the clock in the cab flashing near midnight and the world spinning a little too much thanks to the alcohol and junk food. She slipped her key into the door of her building and waved a friendly hello to the neighbour on her way out. Taylor couldn’t stop laughing at Damien almost falling on some guy on the subway who was big enough to be in one of those James Bond movies as an indestructible assassin and the people who were exiting the elevator as she entered - alone - must’ve thought that the quiet and reserved doctor had lost her marbles and gone insane at last.
She unlocked her loft door and staggered slightly as she stepped inside, clutching to the doorknob to remain upright as she kicked off her chucks and discarded her small purse on the floor near the door. Normally, she was a tidy woman and would put it away in the cupboard with the rest, but tonight Taylor didn’t care; too good a day had been had.

There was something amiss with her apartment though and she looked up to see that the lights had been dimmed, even the ones over the homes of her exotic pets. She furrowed her eyebrows and walked over to flick their special lighting back on and then looked across the room, her green eyes narrowing as a set of melting candles came into focus over by her dining table along with plates laden with food that looked unappetising now. Then she saw him sitting on the sofa with his feet on the table, irking her more as he thumbed through one of her novels rather carelessly, pissing her off even more. “Drake? What the hell are you doing here?”

[/color] They had no plans and she had told him that she would be at the baseball game today, so why was he here and obviously failing at surprising her with a romantic night in.
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• • •

TAGGED! Drake!
WORDS! 693
OUTFIT![url=http://www.polyvore.com/broken_hearts/set?id=33604501
] Casual Cliche[/url]
LYRICS! Broken Strings - - - James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado
NOTES! <3
[/size]

[drake lochlyn wilde]

TO THE DEEP END TO THE HEART LINE

[/color]
hold it together man, hold it straight together if you can
little fevers of dedication all strung out on novelty
COLLAPSE YOURSELF AND TRY TO COMPREHEND[/color]
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Drake did not like the way Taylor was behaving recently. He hardly saw her as it was thanks to long and uncontrollable hours at the hospital, but now, when he did have the infrequent night off, she already had arranged other plans with another man! How was that tolerable in a relationship?! He was pulling shift swaps and trying to cover different, more difficult shifts just so that they could spend an evening together and Taylor was blowing him off like he was the geek in the chess club and this Damien was the star quarterback!

He liked her. He really liked her, but there was simply too many situations in her life that he knew very little about and the thought of another man knowing more about his girlfriend than he did was something that unnerved him. Even if Taylor had known Damien her whole life, he should be part of his past and Drake should be her future. On the nights when she was cold and lonely it should be the doctor she was turning to, not the lawyer with the nervous breakdown.

Drake had decided to take the situation into his own hands now. He had to win Taylor back and prove to her that he was the guy she should be spending her nights with, not Damien. After agreeing to a difficult shift swap, he had snuck from the hospital early, knowing that Taylor would still be at the baseball game with Damien. Since when had she even liked baseball? She’d never mentioned it to Drake in all the time that he had known her. Using the emergency key he had talked Taylor into giving him a while back, he let himself into her apartment, determined not to be put on edge by the exotic pets that Taylor fondly referred to as ‘her babies’. There was seriously something disturbing about a tarantula and a snake staring at you as you made out with their ‘mother’ across the room. The tortoises didn’t bother him so much, but he was always confused as to why Taylor owned such bizarre pets in the first place.

The kitchen was his target and once there he placed down the grocery bags and glanced in her cupboards and refrigerator; both almost bare, aside from a few take out cartons. Shaking his head he set to work preparing a meal that he hoped would put Taylor in the right mindset to remember which guy was her boyfriend.
However, Drake didn’t stop to consider that Taylor wouldn’t come straight home after the game. It didn’t cross his mind that perhaps she would choose to hit a bar or get dinner first. He just assumed she would be there promptly as he laid the table.
One hour.
Two hour.
Three turned to four…

Drake sat on the couch, irritated, as the clock continued to tick. He picked up the novel she had left on the edge of the table and shook his head at the title; At Dusk We Die? Why the hell did Taylor read this crap? The girl had a morbid fascination with death and that was becoming more and more apparent the longer he spent with her. She was fascinating though and Drake was determined to find out what her big secret was.
Eventually, the door opened and the sound of feminine giggles floated to his ears, catching his attention. He watched as she staggered, kicking her shoes aimlessly into the apartment before dropping her purse without consideration for where it would land. Drake kept his eyes fixed on her as she realised what was happening and his jaw clenched when she spoke to him in that tone. Why did she have to speak like he was doing wrong here? “I made us dinner, but it went cold four hours ago when you didn‘t show up.”

[/color] He stood up and moved across the loft to where she stood, the smell of beer hitting his nostrils hard. “Have you been drinking?”[/color] He wrinkled his nose up in disgust and stared down at his girlfriend, noticing the dilated pupils in the centre of them jade orbs.
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Drake is talking to Taylor Becks with a little inspiration from Motion City Soundtrack when they sing about Disappear. There are 812 things on his mind and this on his back. His strings are pulled by Chastity, his heart is pounding angrily.

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[Taylor Caroline Becks]

Was this really happening? Was Drake really in such a foul mood because she’d been busy when he wanted to surprise her? Yup, he was definitely pissed off over a simple misunderstanding, mainly on his part. Taylor wasn’t the kind of girl to rise to conflict, but at the same time she wasn’t a doormat and she wasn’t about to let a handsome doctor walk all over her like one. Drake had trust issues, she knew that, but right now, the only thing she was concerned about was that it suddenly seemed as though her had trust issues with her which was the most ridiculous thing since movie remakes of classics.

Taylor was not the kind of person who strung someone along. She wasn’t the girl who toyed with hearts and treated people like they were puppets. No, she had seen plenty of them and she wasn’t ever going to fall into that category. She was a smart girl, she knew exactly where this fight would go and already those walls that she put up to protect herself were back in place, stronger and sturdier than ever. This was one area of her life where she wouldn’t back down, where she wouldn’t change her mind. She was dating Drake, yes, but she was not his to own like some pet, or object. She had a life too and friends away from the hospital who she enjoyed hanging out with and Drake had no say in what she did in her free time or who she did it with and if he couldn’t deal with that then maybe it was high time that Taylor showed him the door. The brunette liked him, she really did, but she couldn’t handle any man who was going to get all possessive and jealous over her lifelong friendship with another male.

“I told you that I had plans with Damien today. I took a vacation day for it.”

[/color] She moved to her kitchen and turned on another light, killing the ambience that Drake had tried to create for them both. “Surely that’s a big enough clue that I was going to be too busy for a surprise romantic dinner.”[/color] Her eyes glanced over at the perfectly set table and try as she might, she couldn’t hide the grimace on her face. He had cooked steak and it was rare - very rare. Taylor hated it and the very idea of having to eat it was almost enough for the burger and fries she ordered at the bar to revisit her. She was a little irritated though; as her boyfriend of five months, surely Drake should know that she hated her meat rare.

She snapped her head back around and fixed him with a defiant stare, her green eyes almost challenging him to continue with this stupid fight. “Yeah, I’ve been drinking, but I’m not drunk, so don’t start any bull about that.”[/color] She was tipsy, yes and the room had been spinning slightly, but Tay was coherent enough to know what was happening and what she was doing and she wasn’t going to let Drake blame the alcohol for this inevitable argument. “Y’know, maybe you should just come out and say what’s really pissed you off, Drake, ‘cause I’m not standing around to shout about silly little things until you snap.”[/color] She knew what this was about and she wanted to get it all over and done with now rather than later. Taylor needed to see if there was any relationship left in this, or if her friendship and loyalty would, pathetically, break them apart.
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• • •

TAGGED! Drake!
WORDS! 639
OUTFIT![url=http://www.polyvore.com/broken_hearts/set?id=33604501
] Casual Cliche[/url]
LYRICS! Broken Strings - - - James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado
NOTES! <3
[/size]

[drake lochlyn wilde]

TO THE DEEP END TO THE HEART LINE

[/color]
hold it together man, hold it straight together if you can
little fevers of dedication all strung out on novelty
COLLAPSE YOURSELF AND TRY TO COMPREHEND[/color]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[/size][/center]

He was not being unreasonable. Any man in a situation similar to Drake’s would react in the exact same manner. They hardly saw each other these days because of Damien constantly stealing his girlfriend away for what he called ‘best friend bonding’. Surely the point of being best friends was that you didn’t need to bond any more? In his opinion, Damien had ulterior motives to spending so much time with Taylor. Drake had seen them together once or twice when they’d been coming home or when he had been meeting Taylor at the hospital for a night of whatever they had planned. He could see the way Damien looked at Taylor and it was enough to put him on edge.

This wasn’t a case of the green eyed monster. This was a case of Damien trying to shamelessly steal Taylor away from Drake and her not being able to see anything bad about ‘the greatest guy’ in her life. Surely he should have that title? Surely the boyfriend should be the one she thought was the greatest? He angrily turned the pages in the book, slamming it down just as she entered. She still looked amazing, but whenever she was around Damien there was a glow about her that made Drake’s blood boil. Taylor never looked that happy after she spent an evening with him and she never blew off any other plans for him. It was always ‘sorry, I’m meeting Bee tonight’ or ‘maybe next time, eh? I promised Denver I’d help him with something’ but the second Damien sent her a text it was always her begging Drake to meet later, or do something tomorrow. He couldn’t say no to the twinkle in her green eyes and the grin it put on her beautiful face, but it annoyed the heck out of him.

His mood wasn’t lightened any by the clear sound of annoyance in her voice when she spoke to him, the glare in her eyes when she looked at the meal he had prepared only working to irritate him more. “You said you were going to the ball game and then coming home. I thought I’d surprise you at home.”

[/color] His voice was cold, bitter even. “Looks like you thought you’d hit the brewery though.”[/color] She could stand there and insist that she wasn’t drunk, but the stench of beer circulated around her and suggested much more than her words and temper currently did.

He spun around, willing to walk out of there and deal with this tomorrow, but her next sentence stopped him in his tracks. Did she really want to go there? Did she want to have this fight right now? Maybe he should’ve backed down, waited patiently for when they were both much more civil and sober to discuss this, but he didn’t care right now. Right now, he wanted to know why his girlfriend was out getting drunk with another man and spending very little time with him! He turned around and walked closer to Taylor, his anger and hurt flickering in his blue eyes. “My problem is the fact that you are so blind that you can’t even see that…that asshole is trying to seduce you and you are falling for his stupid act! You swan around like a giddy teenager after a few hours with him and then ignore me completely! We are supposed to be in a relationship Taylor and right now it seems like you have one foot out of the door and you’re ready to run from this! I thought you were better than most women out there and I thought that I could trust you not to lie to me!”[/color]
There. He said it.
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Drake is talking to Taylor Becks with a little inspiration from Motion City Soundtrack when they sing about Disappear. There are 756 things on his mind and this on his back. His strings are pulled by Chastity, his heart is pounding angrily.

[/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify][/font]

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

This was a little too surreal. Drake was in her apartment, fighting with her about how she was living her life and who she was spending her time with. Not even her dad did that when she was younger and Drake had absolutely no right to do it now, either! She didn’t belong to him, she wasn’t his property and she certainly was not about to answer to him as to where she had been all day!
Angrily, Taylor pushed her dark waves back from her face and clenched her jaw. She didn’t want to shout loud enough to cause a disturbance to her neighbours but she definitely was feeling volatile enough to allow this to escalate into a screaming match that would make the rest of the tenants in the building dislike her for quite some time.

“The last time I checked, I didn’t have to report to you every hour of every damn day!”

[/color] She yelled at him, storming across her apartment to turn the rest of the lights on and blow out the ridiculous candles that were sitting on her dining room table. “I’m twenty six years of age, Drake, you can’t treat me like a little child! And, so what, if I went to a bar with some of the guys after the game? I’m allowed a life and I thought I had a pretty damn good one, but with you in it, I’m not so sure anymore.”[/color] Now she didn’t know what she was yelling, but she was yelling at him with all the fury and annoyance that had been building up over the last few days in every snide remark Drake had made about her time spent with the handsome lawyer.

And there it was; the blow she knew was coming. She sensed that Drake disliked Damien but what she didn’t understand was why. Damien had made polite small talk with the trauma doctor whenever they had bumped into each other, and Taylor knew that Damien, if anything, was being a little protective over her. That’s what best friends did, especially when they had known each other as long as the two Jersey kids had and seen each other at their best and worst. “Listen, it is not my fault that you are paranoid after your cheating ex wife, but I am not going to sit here and listen to you insult my best friend and accuse him of having ulterior motives just because I spend time with him![/color] She walked away from Drake and moved around the kitchen counter, pouring herself a glass of water. It probably wasn’t the best time but her throat was dry from cheering all afternoon and she didn’t want to sound like she’d swallowed a frog come morning, especially not with Drake causing a fight right now. “First of all, I don’t lie, I never lie and if you dare accuse me of that again, I will throw you out of my apartment and my life. You’ve got trust issues, I get that, but I can’t report in with you every second of every day. I need my freedom in this relationship and this? Turning up, cooking me a meal I wouldn’t even eat and then making it out to be my fault? That’s just too much. In fact, I want my spare key back. I think you need some cooling off time Drake.”[/color] She kept calm for the latter half of her speech. She didn’t like fast moving relationships and it already irked her that he would use the emergency key to come to her home whenever he pleased. She needed her space, her privacy and she couldn’t cope with overly possessive boyfriends in her life. Taylor liked Drake, she really did, but she needed them to step back tonight.

Running her fingers through thick brown hair, she turned to face Drake again, this time shaking her head softly. “You’re not the only person in this relationship, Drake. Maybe you need to remember that before you start jumping to stupid conclusions that make no sense.”[/color] There was a tiny, tiny voice in the back of her mind though that seemed to be agreeing with him. She did have one foot out of the door and she did spend a lot of time with Damien and enjoy it.
They were just friends though and that was how Taylor always eased herself into relationships out of fear of getting hurt…right?
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• • •

TAGGED! Drake!
WORDS! 781
OUTFIT![url=http://www.polyvore.com/broken_hearts/set?id=33604501
] Casual Cliche[/url]
LYRICS! Broken Strings - - - James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado
NOTES! <3
[/size]

[drake lochlyn wilde]

TO THE DEEP END TO THE HEART LINE

[/color]
hold it together man, hold it straight together if you can
little fevers of dedication all strung out on novelty
COLLAPSE YOURSELF AND TRY TO COMPREHEND[/color]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -[/size][/center]

He’d never seen Taylor this fired up before, but by god, she loved beautiful. The burning emotion in her eyes, the strong way in which she held herself, not once backing down or becoming meek…they were all the reasons why he had fallen for her in the first place; she wasn’t like most women. They were also the same things that had brought them to this point in time. Part of him couldn’t blame her for wanting to spend time with her friend but as the same time, that part was buried by the jealous dragon that raged within him every time the lawyer cropped up in conversation, or his smug face appeared in the hospital, casually waiting for Taylor whilst trying in vain to make small talk with the trauma doctor who really didn’t wish to give him the time of day.

Her words stung. Drake hadn’t realised that Tay could strike so hard. He stared at her for a few seconds, silently fuming and ignoring the rational voice of logic that told him about the very valid point she had made. “Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t know whether you’re coming or going these days! Who do I have to speak to to schedule a date with my supposed girlfriend?!”

[/color] He shouted bitterly, irritated at how low he seemed to be on her list of priorities lately. “Your life was so great before me? You work in the morgue because you’re scared of death! You’re supposed to be a damn doctor and you can’t handle the thought of someone dying! And what else, let me see? You had meaningless relationships with guys clad in leather and you spent every day living in fear that you’d contract T-Cell Lymphoma and never actually have lived a life to be proud of!”[/color] These were all low blows, but he was hitting as good as he got from her, so if she wanted to break him, he’d do the damn same to her.

Taylor seemed to harden when he finally revealed his true reason for being so angry. For a second, he winced, wondering what she was capable of doing and figuring that she’d probably slap him into next week if he didn’t watch his tongue, but he was beyond that now. He was mad, fuming, raging…he didn’t want to share his girlfriend with anyone, least of all with a cocky, incorrigible lawyer who had a habit of linking arms with Taylor and then smirking about it. The fact that he easily towered over her when she wore her killer heels did not go unnoticed either and it was just another of the many factors that made Drake hate him even more. “Oh, that’s right, it must be my fault be my fault because obvious there’s something about me that just pushes women into the arms of another man!”[/color] His fists clenched at his sides and he swallowed hard, trying to control the anger so unusual for him. “But he does! Why can’t you see that, Tay?! He looks at you like you’re his world, like he’d die for you and he’s not supposed to! The way he looks at you is supposed to be reserved for me - your boyfriend! The man who loves you!”[/color] Okay, so the L-bomb wasn’t supposed to fall from his lips, but he was desperate for Taylor to see what she was so obviously blind to. He did love her, even if they were on the verge of killing each other right now. He was barely conscious of the confession being spoken, but maybe Taylor wouldn’t notice; she was awfully wound up right now.

She went quiet. Threatening quiet and she spoke with such a tone that Drake realised just how messy this relationship was getting and just how foolish he may have been to tell Taylor everything that he did. However, the last bit of her little ‘speech‘ made his blood boil again. “Let me guess, Damien gets to keep his spare key though, doesn’t he?!”[/color] He snapped the key from his chain and threw it on the counter, not caring when it bounced off the wooden surface and landed on the floor, almost sliding under the refrigerator. “I don’t get what this is supposed to be Taylor! I try to make you happy, I do, but you don’t want to give me the time of day! The whole point of this relationship is that we’re together, not me slaving to win you over when all he has to do is flash you a damn smile that turns you into a high school cheerleader again!”[/color] Angrily, he grabbed his coat and moved towards the door, already sick of this conversation and of this night.
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Drake is talking to Taylor Becks with a little inspiration from Motion City Soundtrack when they sing about Disappear. There are 929 things on his mind and this on his back. His strings are pulled by Chastity, his heart is pounding angrily.

[/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify][/font]

[Taylor Caroline Becks]

It took a lot to make Taylor Caroline Becks lose her temper, but this was only the tip of the iceberg. She was very much in control of what was happening around her, and she knew and understood each and every word that came out of her mouth, despite how much it may have stung the other doctor to hear them. She wasn’t someone who would lay down and let people walk all over her, least of all someone who she was supposed to like in a romantic fashion. Drake did still make her heart skip a beat when he walked in a room, but their honeymoon period was completely over and a routine between them was starting to fall into place, reminding the devil on Taylor’s shoulder why she never committed to long term relationships; the spark died, the romance fell on hollow ears and the magic simply vanished. In a way, she supposed tonight was intended to be a romantic break, but truthfully, she would have expected Drake to at least cook something she liked. Taylor wasn’t even a huge fan of steaks and wouldn’t exactly declare them to be romantic.

“I am allowed a life that doesn’t revolve around you! Drake, we’re doctors, we don’t have a fixed schedule and one of us is always coming when the other is going! If I make plans with other people and suddenly you’re free, what am I supposed to do? I’m not going to drop everything with them!”

[/color] She said, trying to keep her cool, but her eyes darkened, her fists clenched and her jaw was set tight with his next string of angry words. Whether he meant them or not, he touched a nerve and had pushed Taylor over the metaphorical edge. She took a deep breath and on the exhale, slammed her palm against Drake’s cheek, feeling the cool air generated with the force fall across her face as the loud ‘crack’ echoed around the otherwise silent apartment. “Never, ever pretend like you know about my life! You know nothing about me! This, all of this, is your problem Drake, not mine! I am damn happy with the person I’ve become, so it’s you with all these fucking petty insecurities and I will not be a vessel for you to throw them on!”[/color] Her voice was hoarse, the words scratching at her throat as she practically screamed them at the man she was supposed to fall head over heels for.

Damien was her best friend! He had held her when times were tough, wiped away her tears when she couldn’t stop crying and made her laugh when she never thought she’d be able to smile again. Of course, she was going to feel for him something she didn’t feel for anyone else! He had been there when she was losing her teeth, growing gangly legs that looked disproportionate to the rest of her skinny figure at the time and he’d been the first one to see her in the dress intended for the prom that she never attended in the end. He was…he was Damien. “I’m not running to his arms! I’m spending time with him like I would any other friend. Why the hell are you being like this Drake? You never cared when I spent time with Denver after work!”[/color] Maybe it was different - it was different, but that shouldn’t matter. They were both still men, and it was unfair that Drake reacted differently to one than the other.
She paused for a second, breath hitched in her throat. Drake just said ‘love’. Her heart was racing, panic bells ringing in her mind. She wasn’t ready for this, she’d never said it to anyone aside from that one, single time. No, she couldn’t do this, not now, not with him. She allowed the anger to flicker back to her jade eyes and then stepped back from Drake. “You know what? Go and find someone who you’ve spent your whole life caring about and then come back and try to judge Damien.”[/color] This conversation was over, she wasn’t going to acknowledge the presence of the L-bomb and she was going to do her damned best to forget about it.

She watched the key bounce from the counter and then shook her head, pushing her hair from her face, swallowing hard at the thought of what this had suddenly spiralled into. “Just get out Drake. I’m done arguing with you tonight. If you really want me to be happy then you’ll let me live my life like any other damn human being. And maybe, if Damien can win me over so easily, that speaks volumes about you and the effort you’re putting into this!”[/color] She said coldly, venom on her lips as poison burned in her eyes. This was the worst ending to what had been the perfect day.
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• • •

TAGGED! Drake!
WORDS! 853
OUTFIT![url=http://www.polyvore.com/broken_hearts/set?id=33604501
] Casual Cliche[/url]
LYRICS! Broken Strings - - - James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado
NOTES! <3
[/size]